Seasonal Availability And Abundance Of Zooplankton In The South Bengal Coast Of West Bengal, India

Abstract

An intra-seasonal study on zooplankton abundance was carried on in the Bay of Bengal to elucidate the fertility of the area as a new fishery ground. The purpose of this study was to determine the composition, abundance, and distribution of zooplankton in 3 separate points of the Bay of Bengal. Point ‘A’ is Petuaghat, point B is Junput, and point C is Sankarpur. All samples were collected by oblique towing with a hand-net of 20 μm mesh size from these three separate areas. The zooplankton community consists of 22 species. Copepoda was the most dominant group both in terms of species number and abundance. Moreover, widely distributed groups in these areas were: copepods, protozoan zooplankton, arrow worms, larvaceans, cnidarians, ostracods, and the liaceans. According to the distribution pattern of major constituents of the zooplankton community indicated that the most productive site of these three areas is Petuaghat (Point A). Salinity regimes & the accessibility of phytoplankton prey prejudiced the distribution and composition of the zooplankton species assemblage.