On a Collection of Some Mollusca from Cauvery Estuary, Tamil Nadu

The Cauvery river is India’s fourth largest river, draining about 89,600 sq. km (Jayaram et al., 1982). The river originates at Talakaveri, Kodagu district of Karnataka and flows generally south east and finally emptying into the Bay of Bengal. Since historical times the river water is extensively utilized for agriculture, fisheries, irrigation and navigation purposes. In recent years they have been further subjected to many multi-purpose hydro-electric and other projects. As a result, a number of old and new barrages, weirs, anicuts or dams, have been constructed across the river. It is considered as the lifeline of the ancient kingdoms and modern cities of South India. The Cauvery estuary, located along the east coast of India, is a part of the Cauvery river basin (Ramanathan et al., 1988). The river bifurcates into two large branches, the Kollidam (Coleroon) and Cauvery at Grand Anicut (a dam near Trichirapalli).