Muthupet Mangrove Forest or Muthupet mangrove swamp is the forest region of Thiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu. This swampy forest region in Thiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu is closely associated with the coastal wetlands of Vedaranyam.
Muthupet Mangrove Forest spreads at an area of approximately 6800 hectares of land. Out of which 77.20 hectares of land is occupied by the well grown mangroves. The remaining area of Muthupet Mangrove Forest is covered with mangrove vegetation.
Muthupet mangrove swamp is in close association with the coastal wetlands of Vedaranyam spreading an area of approximately 6800 hectares. Out of which 77.20 hectares is occupied by well-grown mangrove. The remaining area is covered by poorly grown mangrove vegetation.
The aquatic fauna of Muthupet mangrove swamp comprises of finfishes, shrimps, molluscs, crabs and benthic invertebrates. Seaweeds such as Chaetomorpha, Enteromorpha, Gracilaria, Hypnea are found in Muthupet mangrove swamp or Muthupet Mangrove Forest.
The mangrove forests in Muthupet are restricted to the edges of the brackish water lagoon, where the true mangrove species are distributed in varying degree of abundance. Avicennia marina is the most common and abundant species, which is followed by Excocaeria agallocha , Aegiceras corniculatum, Acanthus ilicifolius, Suaeda maritima, Suaeda monica etc.
Finfishes constitute the bulk of the total fishery in Muthupet mangrove forest. Mugil cephalus, Liza sp, Chanos sp, Siganus sp, and Etroplus sp are common. The prawn fishery in Muthupet Mangorove wetlands are dominated by Penaeus indicus, Penaeus monodon, Metapenaeus dobsoni, Metapenaeus monoceras and Macrobranchium sp and the crabs such as Scylla serrata and Portunus pelagicus, oysters (Crassostrea madrasensis) and clams (Meretrix meretrix) are commercially important molluscs and birds found recorded in this area are Herons, Egrets, Kingfishers, Myna, Plovers, and Sand Pipers.
