International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol.7, No.8, 67-75
67
Research Article Open Access
Zooplankton of Iraqi Marine Water North West Arabian Gulf
Shaker G. Ajeel
Department of Marine Biology, Marine Science Centre, University of Basrah, Iraq
Corresponding email
International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol.7, No. 8 doi
Received: 14 Feb., 2017
Accepted: 09 Mar., 2017
Published: 19 Mar., 2017
Copyright © 2017
Ajeel, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Ajeel S.G., 2017, Zooplankton of Iraqi marine water north west Arabian Gulf, International Journal of Marine Science, 7(8): 67-75 (doi:
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.
Keywords
Zooplankton; Density; Biomass; NW Arabian Gulf
Introduction
The Iraqi marine water is located at the north-western part of the Arabian Gulf. This water body consists of Shatt
Al-Arab Estuary (shallow, average depth of 5 meter at low water) and several open lagoons such as Khour
Al-Khafka and Khour Al-Amaya (deep and narrow, average depth of 25 m at low water) besides Khour Abdullah.
Shatt Al-Arab River is the main source of freshwater to the northern zone of the Arabian Gulf (Al -Mahdi et al.,
2009).
Zooplankton are generally very small animals, usually weak swimmers and therefore just drift along with the
currents. They live all or part of their life as plankton and living virtually everywhere in the ponds, swamps, rivers
and seas. They are found near the surface in aquatic environments where there is enough sunlight to support
phytoplankton. They are considered the key components of marine ecosystems forming the base of most marine
food webs which comprise the first link in the food chain and food for many zooplankton. These include a wide
range of animals, from primitive protozoan’s to the larvae of more complex animals and range in size from
microscopic organisms to some of the longest animals in the sea.
However, research on the zooplankton in Iraqi marine water was few, the first study by Gurney (1921) who
surveyed Crustaceans of the lower Mesopotamia for the first time. Mohammad (1965) then identified Cladocera
from the middle and south of Iraq in different areas including Al-Musab in North West Arabian Gulf to Al-Qurna
region. Khalaf (1988) studied the quality of zooplankton in Khour Al-Zubair and Khour Abdulla. Other studies
included Salman et al. (1990) study in Khour Abdullah, Ajeel (1990), Khalaf (1991; 1992), Khalaf and Ajeel
(1994), Khalaf (1994), Ajeel and Khalaf (1995), Ajeel and Khalaf (1997) and Ajeel (1997) in Khour Al-Zubair and
Khour Abdullah. Al-Zubaidi (1998), Al-Zubaidi and Salman (2001) studied the zooplankton of the southern Shatt
Al-Arab River estuary and Northwest Arabian Gulf. Ajeel (2004) investigated the zooplankton of the Umm Qaser
and Khour Al-Zubair canal followed by Khalaf (2008) and Al-Shawi (2010) study in Khour Al-Zubair. Then
Morad (2011) investigated the seasonal changes of zooplankton in Iraqi Marine coastal and estuarine brackish
water. Whereas, Ajeel (2012) investigated the zooplankton of the Khour Al-Zubair and Shatt Al-Basrah Canal.
Ajeel et al. (2015) studied the chemical elements in zooplankton at Iraqi marine water. Ajeel (2016) studied the
zooplankton of the south Shatt Al-Arab River.
Due to the environmental importance of the North-West Arabian Gulf, and the significant role played by Khour
Al-Zubair, Shatt Al-Basrah channel and Shatt Al-Arab River for being good places for spawning, breeding and
