Planktonic Foraminifera from the Offshore segment between Chennai and Cuddalore, Bay of Bengal, India

An attempt has been made to know the distribution of planktonic foraminifera in the continental shelf slope region between Chennai and Cuddalore in the Bay of Bengal collected during a cruise. Fifteen species were identified from forty five grab samples. The total population is found to increase significantly from 30 m to the deeper region with maximum average of 41 % observed in the samples from beyond 200 m of water depth. However, samples from less than 10 m witnessed only 1.4 % of planktonic foraminifera. Results reveal that the spinose forms outnumbered the non spinose forms making up 80 % of the total population.