The Zooplankton of Bardestan Creek in the Persian Gulf

Abstract Samples of Zooplankton of Bardestan Creek and its offshore waters were collected using a 100 cm long (30 cm diam.) mesh net of a 110 μm pore size in March (winter) and August, 2014 (summer) on a fishing boat; preserved in 5% formalin, identified and population abundances per cubic meter counted. Eighteen stations (9 stations each in the creek and offshore waters) were sampled. |Mean zooplankton abundances for the Creek and its offshore waters significantly differed (p<0.05) between seasons (6741±11 and 9757±7 for winter and 31922 ±20 and 22718±21 for summer). Copepods comprised majority of zooplankton populations (88% and 68 % of total zooplanktons) in winter and summer, respectively. Although, cluster analysis revealed three distinct groups of zooplanktons with 70% similarity in winter and summer, Spearmanʹs analysis indicated no significant correlation (p>0.05) between zooplankton abundance and temperature or salinity.