C. Jaishankar RAMANATHAPURAM: Areas in and around Mandapam and the Kilakarai group of islands of the Gulf of Mannar have borne the brunt of devastation caused by the abnormal blooming of noctiluca scintillans. Thousands of varieties of marine animals, including highly endangered sea turtles, sea cucumbers, seahorses and sea anemones have been washed ashore along Mandapam-Kilakarai stretch. The lagoon areas of the islands are awash with dead fishes of all sizes and varieties. Seawater around the 50-km radius of Periapattinam near here look green and muddy in patches. Significantly, the affected areas were part of the protected area under the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park (GMMNP), where several initiatives had been taken to preserve the ecology. Bad odour emanating from the dead marine animals can be sensed in places far away from the shore. The government has sought an urgent and detailed report on the large-scale mortality of fish and other species in the Gulf of Mannar. Several agencies and institutes, including the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, the Suganthi Devadasan Marine Research Institute and the Fisheries College, Tuticorin, have dispatched their team of scientists to study the damage to the biodiversity in the region. Centre of bloom G. Gopakumar, scientist-in-charge, CMFRI, who carried out a study for the third day on Sunday, told The Hindu that he had never witnessed such mortality in the recent past. The situation was very bad in Vazhatheevu, where he saw hundreds of dead marine species. It might be the centre of noctiluca bloom, he added. There was still no increase in the oxygen level in the affected areas. The level was intolerably low for many of the marine species. The bloom was sill persisting around the islands causing severe damage to the coral reef biodiversity.