RESUMEN
An investigation was carried out during June 2005 to May 2007 on hydrography, composition and community structure of phytoplankton including chlorophyll a in Parangipettai coastal waters (southeast coast of India). Air and surface water temperatures varied from 25.5 to 31.2 degrees C and from 25 to 29.3 degrees C, respectively. Salinity values varied from 5 to 33.1 per thousand and the pH ranged between 7.2 and 8.3. Dissolved oxygen content varied from 3.1 to 7.9 mg l(-1) while the light extinction coefficient values (LEC) ranged between 1.8 and 11.0 cm. The range of inorganic nutrients viz., nitrate, nitrite, phosphate and silicate were: 6.5 - 27.0 microM; 1.0 - 8.9 microM; 0.1 - 3.0 microM and 15.0 - 140 microM, respectively. The range of chlorophyll a was: 2.0 - 7.5 microg l(-1). Presently, 117 phytoplankton species representing different classes viz: Bacillariophyceae (66); Dinophyceae (22); Cyanophyceae (19); Chlorophyceae (7) and Chrysophyceae (3) were recorded. The phytoplankton cell abundance varied from 0.14 to 132 cells ml(-1), with peak diversity (3.52 bits ind.(-1)) during summer season. The maximum abundance was found during summer season coinciding with the stable hydrographical conditions. Canonical Correspondence Analysis was applied in this study for discriminating environmental factors effecting on phytoplankton community at species level.