Zooplankton of Iraqi Marine Water North West Arabian Gulf

Abstract

Samples were collected from seven stations in Iraqi marine water at North west Arabian Gulf by a plankton net (0.120 mm mesh-size and 40 cm mouth aperture) during July 2009 and March 2010. The population density of zooplankton ranged between 185 ind./m 3 during March 2010 to 32856 ind./m 3 during July 2009 at St. 3 (Al-Musab). Crustaceans were the dominant which constitute 76.4% of the total zooplankton in study area. Copepoda constitute (76%), Bivalve (9%), Rotifera (6%), Cirripede larvae and Appendicularia (2%) of the total zooplankton. The average biomass of zooplankton estimated as wet weight 387.7 mg/m 3 , dry weight 18.7 mg/m 3 , displacement volume 0.5 ml/ m 3 and standing crop 33.0 mg C/ m 3 in study area.