SEAWEEDS IN THE COAST OF TAMIL NADU, TAXONOMIC CLASSIFICATION OF SEAWEEDS IN TAMIL NADU COAST

The marine environment is a rich source of biologically active natural products many of which have not been found in terrestrial sources. The first living organisms have appeared in the sea more than 3,500 million years ago (Argulis L.et al 1982.). These organisms live in complex communities and in close association with other organisms both macro (e.g. algae, sponges, ascidians etc.) and micro (e.g. bacteria, fungi, actinomyctes etc.) organisms (Maudougall 1996.). Marine algae including micro algae photosynthesis, are one of the most primitive photosynthesizing contribute nearly 40% of global autotrophic groups of ecologically and economically important vegetation of oceanic ecosystem with unique life cycle and physiology, nearly 50,000 of seaweeds have been discovered in the marine environment (Filho- Lima et al., 2002).