Assessment of marine environment by ABC (abundance biomass comparison) analysis—A case study on western offshore area of Arabian Sea

Assessment of the variations in marine ecosystem can be effectively monitored using benthic fauna because pollutants from any source will ultimately end in the seabed. The benthic communities play an important role in the transfer of materials from primary production through detrital pool into higher tropic levels, including commercially exploitable fish. Majority of the benthic fauna are sedentary and sessile in nature and cannot avoid any environmental perturbation, hence are considered sensitive indicator of change in the environment caused by natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Based on the analysis of abundance and biomass of benthic communities, one very important and effective study in analyzing marine environment i.e. ABC (Abundance-Biomass Comparison) has been adopted in this paper.