ABUNDANCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF BOTTOM FAUNA IN LAKE MAl\ZALAH, EGYPT

ABUNDANCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF BOTTOM FAUNA

IN LAKE MAl\ZALAH, EGYPT

By
MOHAMED A. IBRAHIM”; M. H. MONA;

AND EL-AZAB E. EL-BOKHTY.

*National Institute ojOceanogr. & Fisheries, Anjoushy – Alexandria, Egypt.
Key Words: Benthos, Limnology, Lake Manzalah, Egypt.
ABSTRACT
Broad quanritative sampling over ‘vvide areas oflake Mamalah has
been used to define the living bottom fauna ofthe Lake The general
pic/ure of bottom fauna “vas fhe empty calcareous forms ofmollusca,
barnacles and rubeworms. Living benthic organisms were generally
represenfed by small number ofspecies ranging be!V.Jeen 3 species (at
the South boundaries ofthe lake) to 16 species af sea-lake connection
area. As a whole, 20 difjerenf species ofbotrom fauna in addition to
one species of brown algae and -I species ofvascular plants were
encountered during the presenf study The low number of species
encountered in some stations is probably due fo high level ofwater
pollution and/or water stagnation. The resf of the stations showed
intermediate numbers due to their situation between fhe fresh water
from the southern drains and fhe inrrusion ofsaltwater at the lake-sea
connection area.