ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF ZOOPLANKTON ASSEMBLAGES IN ABU QIR BAY, ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT

ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF ZOOPLANKTON ASSEMBLAGES
IN ABU QIR BAY, ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT
HOWAIDA Y. ZAKARIA
National Institute of Oceanography & Fisheries
[email protected]
Keywords: Zooplankton, Coastal waters, Abu Qir Bay, Egypt.
ABSTRACT
Abu Qir Bay is a shallow semi-circular basin lying 35 Km east of Alexandria city. The
bay is facing the problem of pollution which discharged into the bay from different sources;
El-Tabia Pumping Station (TPS), the outlet of Idku Lake and the Rosetta mouth of the Nile
River. Quantitative and qualitative studies of zooplankton community in Abu Qir Bay were
performed seasonally during 2004. Fourteen stations were selected to represent the different
habitats in the bay.The seasonal variations of zooplankton standing stock in Abu Qir Bay
indicated that, the highest count (average 87.1×103 ind/m3
) occurred during spring, while
the lowest (average 44.2×103 ind/m3
) was recorded in summer. The average zooplankton
count during the period of study amounted to 60.5×103 ind/m3
. The minimum zooplankton
crop (average 2.5×103 ind/m3
) in front of El-Tabia Pumping Station reflects the effect of
wastes discharged into the bay. The zooplankton assemblages in Abu Qir Bay were
dominated by Protozoa, Copepoda and meroplanktonic Mollusca which contributed
51.19%, 27.90% and 12.10% respectively to the total zooplankton count. A total of 85
zooplankton species were identified during the period of investigation. The zooplankton
organisms recorded in Abu Qir Bay live under a range of water temperature 16.1-28.5o
C
and water salinity 34.807–38.658 ppt. 18 species (i.e. 22.35% of the species recorded) are
euryhaline species.