A checklist of seaweeds of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India: a way forward for seaweed cultivation, food, and drug applications.

Seaweed exploitation in mainland India was started in early 1970s for various applications. The checklist of seaweeds of mainland India was well documented during 2001. However, rich marine macroalgal diversity found in island ecosystems of Andaman and Nicobar Islands have not been explored until today due to inaccessibility to most remote and protected islands. Based on the literature available from 1965 to 2020, this study garnered a detailed checklist of seaweeds of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands with recent nomenclature. A total of 244 species under 100 genera are being reported herein, of which red algae showed the highest species diversity of 107 species under 58 genera, followed by 79 species of green algae under 23 genera and 58 species of brown algae under 19 genera. Recent studies revealed that Andaman and Nicobar Islands are rich in seaweeds diversity, and the species composition available in these islands is slightly different from mainland Indian coastal waters. Since the Andaman group of islands is located close to Thailand and other Asian countries, Andaman seaweed species diversity appears to resemble the seaweed species of the West coast of Thailand and other Asian countries. This checklist would serve as valuable baseline data for those who wish to pursue research on seaweed conservation, germplasm banking, and molecular taxonomy aspects as well as sustainable utilization of seaweeds for commercial cultivation, food, drug, and other value-added applications.