Abundance and diversity of reef fish larvae in Mabahiss Bay, on the Egyptian Red Sea coast

The larvae of coral reef fishes have been studied in order to determine the composition of fish larval community in Mabahiss bay located at Hurghada on the Egyptian Red Sea coast. Fish larvae were collected monthly from November 2012 to October 2013 by plankton net of 0.5 mm mesh size. A total of 1336 fish larvae comprising 57 fish taxa were recorded from all habitats. The highest number of larvae (517) was collected from the open water areas, whereas the lowest of 129 larvae were taken from seagrass areas. The highest number of species was recorded from the open water areas (39 taxa), while the lowest number of species was taken from the seagrass area (19 taxa). Results obtained from the present study reflect the importance of different Red Sea habitats to the early life history of reef fishes and how they could support these stages.