The present study deals with the occurrence and abundance the macrobenthic crustacean fauna which was studied
during the period of January to December 2006, from mangrove swamps of Sandspit backwaters. This is the first report
related to the benthic crustaceans present up to a depth of 12-15 cm in sediments of mangroves. The study site was densely
populated by Avicennia marina. Sediments for the study were collected using box corer from low, mid and high tidal zone
of three different transects from mangrove swamps. Ten diverse groups of crustaceans were identified during the study. The
most abundant crustacean included amphipods (20.44%) and Balanus amphitrite (65.70%). However, the hermit crab
Diogenes sp (4.62 %) and brachyuran crab Macrophthalmus depresses (6.62 %) were also observed. The only penaeid
shrimp Metapenaeus monoceros was observed in low density in all three transects as well as in all three tidal zones.