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"For the present investigation, physico-chemical and microbiological characteristics of soils such as soil composition and texture, pH, organic carbon, available nitrogen, available phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, iron and total heterotrophic counts from ten different coastal localities of Chidambaranar district, Tamilnadu were studied. Texturally the above soil samples ranged from sandy loam to sandy clay loam. The soils were slightly alkaline and their pH ranged from 8.3 � 0.3 to 9.8 � 0.1 seems to be favourable for profitable shrimp farming. A these soil samples showed low organic carbon content, organic manuring is recommended for such localities prior to shrimp farming. The presently recorded values of available nitrogen (93.80 � 8.11 - 10.08 � 0.96 mg/100g soil), available phosphorus (18.98 � 3.01 - 1.99 � 0.12 mg/100g soil), calcium (24.80 � 1.96 - 5.68 � 0.92 mg/100g soil), magnesium (25.60 � 0.13 - 7.80 � 1.13 mg/100g soil), iron content (0 - 0.69 � 0.06 mg/100g soil) and the total heterotrophic counts (7.00 x 101 - 9.75 x 103 cfu/g soil) in the above soil samples were found to be favourable for shrimp farming practices. The above findings, probably the first of its kind, could help throw more light on the existing qualities of soil in the studied localities and this would help the entrepreneurs to select suitable localities for initiating shrimp farming venture in the future."