FOREWORD BY THE SECRETARY, DBT

 

 

 

 

Our never ending quest for understanding the mystery of the nature, especially the mechanisms on which life is based on; has resulted into huge volume of data/information. Success of the accurate interpretation and prediction depends on the proper management and real-time dissemination of the information. Over the years, biologists and Biotechnologists are using different data management tools and techniques for collating and disseminating the available information. However, in recent past serious efforts have been put to formulate the methods, techniques for management of biological information - which has given birth to a new discipline called "BIOINFORMATICS".

 

Over the last decade "BIOINFORMATICS" has played a major role in the way biology and biotechnology research and development activities are being carried out. Marine Biology is not an exception to that. Bioinformatics Centre at the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa which forms an integral part of the "Biotechnology Information System Network (BTISNET)" established by this department has been actively working in this direction. During the past this Centre published a compilation of life sciences and biotechnology information sources entitled,"Databases in Life Sciences and Biotechnology : A Directory". This centre has received wide recognition from various international agencies and institutions.

 

Collation of marine living resources related information and the computer aided taxonomic identification system have been the major emphasis of this Center. This has resulted into this CDROM product on "Marine Prawns of India" which forms the part of their "NIO's Databases on Marine Life of India (NIODMLI)'. Information about Indian Marine Prawns has been collated from various sources. This package also has a programme to identify any of the Indian marine prawn. This would ease the burden on taxonomists and would popularize the taxonomy. I am sure, product of this nature would be beneficial to all academicians, researchers, students and planners.

 

I take this opportunity to congratulate and convey my appreciation to the staff of the Center whose painstaking and timely efforts are responsible for this extremely useful product. I wish them all the best in their future endeavors to provide value added information services to the biological and biotechnological community.

 

 

 

[Dr. Manju Sharma]

Secretary

Department of Biotechnology

Government of India

New Delhi

 

PREFACE BY THE ADVISOR (BIOINFORMATICS), DBT

 

 

 

 

 

Computer based information storage scanning and retrieval have proved to be of great importance in handling large amounts of data being generated every day. The amount of information generated in the field of biology and biotechnology all over the world is unprecedented and calls for an efficient system for its real-time management and dissemination. This realization has resulted in the establishment of "Biotechnology Information System Network (BTISNET)" by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in India. This decade old information system has been proved to be efficient and prompt enough in providing value added information to a large and wide ranging biological and allied community in the country.

 

Bioinformatics Centre at the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa has been playing a major role in collation and dissemination of marine biological knowledge of the Indian seas. Efforts of this Centre during past 7 years have received much recognition at national and international level. Staff of this Centre has been involved in developing new tools and techniques aimed at efficient data/information management in marine biology. This product CDROM on "Marine Prawns of India" which forms the part of their "NIO's Databases on Marine Life of India (NIODMLI)" is one such example.

 

This volume of the "Marine Prawns of India" (Ver. 1.0) collates information related to taxonomy, morphology, anatomy, life cycle, and biogeography of about 52 prawn species available in Indian marine and estuarine waters. This multimedia product has been developed to be retrieved using HTML browser, thus making the access user-friendly. It has also been planned to host the database on the Internet (http://www.nio.org/bioinfo/prawns/) as a value-added service. This will ensure wider dissemination of the information across the political and economical boundaries. I am sure a product of this nature would be useful to academicians, researchers, prawnfarm managers, planners and students to a great extent.

 

At this juncture I wish to congratulate the staff of the Centre for their efforts in bringing out such a product. I must also thank Dr. E. Desa, Director, NIO for his constant encouragement and ever grooming support to the BIOINFORMATICS activities in his institute. A word of appreciation should also be spelt out about Dr. D. Chandramohan, Officer-in-Charge who has articulately led the Centre in developing such a unique and useful product. I also wish to congratulate Shri/s. Vishwas Chavan, Devanand Kavlekar and Vishwanath Kulkarni whose efforts have been culminated into this product. I wish them all the very bests.

 

 

 

[Dr. J. R. Arora]

Advisor (Bioinformatics)

Department of Biotechnology

Government of India

New Delhi 110 003.

 

 

 

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

 

 

We are thankful to Dr. Ehrlich Desa, Director, National Institute of Oceanography (CSIR), Dona Paula, Goa for his encouragement and support. We also thank the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, New Delhi for their financial support for this work.

 

This CDROM product would not have been possible without the active inputs from Dr. C. Suseelan, Scientist, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Kochi. Finally we would like to record the sincere appreciation for all co-operation and encouragement received from colleagues within and outside the institute from time to time.

 

 

 

 

Vishwas Chavan

Devanand Kavlekar

Vishwanath Kulkarni

C. T. Achuthankutty

D. Chandramohan

 

 

FOREWORD BY THE DIRECTOR, NIO

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oceans cover the 2/3 of our mother earth. With the exponentially growing population, increasing pollution and dwindling land-based resources, ocean has been looked as major resource to sustain life on this planet. Many studies are being conducted to understand the resource potential and complex ecological processes of our marine environment. This has resulted in the accumulation of enormous amount of data/information. The success of accurate interpretation and forecasting depends on the efficient management and real-time dissemination of this data/information.

 

Seas bordering India harbour rich, diversified biota. However, information on these economically, ecologically important habitants is scattered and limitted which calls for its planned management and quicker dissemination. National Institute of Oceanography, Goa during its more than three decade existence has been attempting to achieve this goal. Bioinformatics Centre at the Institute has been working on collation of biotic knowledge of our seas. Present CDROM on "Marine Prawns of India" is the first of such a user-friendly, multimedia package under the series "NIO's Databases on Marine Life of India (NIODMLI)". This CDROM collates taxonomy, biogeography, life cycle and morphology related information on 52 prawn species available in marine and estuarine waters of this country. This multimedia package has been developed in HTML formar using the available web browser, thus making it more-user friendly. This would also be made available on Internet Server (http://www.nio.org/) as a value-added service.

 

Apart from fulfilling it's major aim of collation of marine biological knowledge, Bioinformatics Centre has played a major role in planning and establishing Local Area Network (LAN) and Indian National Oceanographic Internet Server (INOIS) at this institute. This centre has been active in developing new tools for Computer Aided Taxonomy (CAT) for Marine Biota. Vargiki-Animalia ver. 1.0 is one such effort, which can be accessed over our Internet Server (http://www.nio.org/animalia/).

I take this opportunity to congratulate my colleagues Dr. D. Chandramohan, Shri/s. Vishwas Chavan, Devanand Kavlekar and Vishwanath Kulkarni and Dr. C.T.Achuthankutty. I must also express our sincere thanks to the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), New Delhi for funding the Bioinformatics activities at NIO, Goa. I wish all the very bests to all those involved in bringing out such a unique and user-friendly package.

 

 

 

[E. Desa]

Director

National Institute of Oceanography

Dona Paula, Goa 403 004, India.