Mansour, A. F., El-Naggar N.A., El-Naggar, H.A., Zakaria, H. Y., and Abo-Senna, F. M
الملخص الانجليزي
The Eastern Harbor is receiving several kinds of untreated pollution و
which affect zooplankton distribution along the harbor. For this reason, the
present work aims to study of the spatial and temporal distribution of the
zooplankton community in the harbor and shed some light on their diversity and
abundance. Four seasonal cruises (spring 2017, summer 2017, autumn 2017, and
winter 2018) were carried out at nine stations along the Eastern Harbor to achieve
the aim of this work. The result revealed that the zooplankton community in the
Eastern Harbor comprised 87 species and other immature forms belonging to 19
groups with a total standing crop of 4984.31 ind./m3. Copepoda was comprised of
the main bulk of zooplankton, it represented by 39 species and constituted
81.97% of the total zooplankton count. Polychaeta (4.97%) was the second
abundant group, followed by Mollusca (3.85) and Cirripedia (2.91). Foraminifera,
Tintinnida and Rotifera were the most diverse groups after copepods, they
represented by 12, 10, and 5 species, respectively. Nematoda, Cirripedia,
Decapoda, and Echinodermata were represented in the present study only by
immature stages. Seasonally, zooplankton was flourished during winter and
declined during autumn. Spatially, the abundance was high at the water inlet to
the harbor (Boghaz 1 station) and low at the water outlet from the harbor (Boghaz
1 station) and at El-Qalaa station outside the harbor. The ecological diversity
indices were widely ranged among investigated stations within four seasons. The
fluctuation of diversity indices values between stations confirms and indicates
that there are disturbances in zooplankton distribution between stations during the
study period.