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vol-7DISTRIBUTION OF THE BOTTOM FAUNA IN LAKE EDKU
Quantitative estimation of the bottom fauna in Lake Edku
was carried out mothly for one year. The lake is a shallow brackish
water lake «average 1 m depth), situated at the north extremity of
the Nile Delta (Egypt) and is in a direct connection with the Mediterranean Sea. Five stations were selected to represent the different
habitats. Results indicate that the distribution of benthos is greatly
affected by the prevailing ecological conitions. The highest biomass
was recorced in areas devoid of hydrophytes (average 17,48 gm
fresh wt/m2). The fauna there was composed mainly the polychaete erets, the amphipods Corophium and Gamntarus and (he
pelecypoda Alley/us. The region of the lake-sea connection harboured a similar fauna but sustained a lower biomass (average 8.98
gm fresh wt./m2). The areas covered with the hydrophytes
Potamogeton and Ceratophyllum were poor in benthos particularly
in zones of dense plant cover. The average biomass amounted there
to 6,00 gm fresh wt/m2. The hironomid larvae were the dominant
inhabitant of the plant belt. A linear relation was observed to exist
between primary production and the biomass of the bottom fauna
recorded in the different stations.
