Ecological study on fisheries important rivers and bays in the south part of the Caspian Sea 2nd phase: Gorgan Bay

In this study ichthyoplankton, phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthic and hydrochemistry parameters were studied. 9 out of 11 sampling stations were in the Gorgan Bay area and 2 of them were in the mouth of the Bay. Ichthyoplankton survey were carried out in 6 stations and the other surveys such as phytoplankton, etc were done in 11 stations in 2009. Gorgan Bay map and position of sampling sites are given at the end of material and methods section. Biomass and frequency of phytoplankton at different stations, months and seasons were calculated that are presented in Tables 1 to 3. Hydro-chemical parameters such as water temperature, air temperature, visibility, DO, BOD5, pH, Alkalinity (bicarbonate, carbonate and total), Hardness (calcium, magnesium), CL,EC, Salinity, N (nitrate, nitrite, NH_3), Phosphate were measured and results are shown Table 11. Biomass (mgr/m^3) and numbers (ind./m^3) of 47 genus of different phylum of phytoplanktons such as Cyanophyta, Chlorophyta, Pyrophyta, Chrysophyta and Euglenaphyta as well as different phylum of zooplanktons consist of Protozoa, Arthropoda, Rotifera and Cyliophora were estimated. Frequency of phytoplanktons (ind/m^3) was 131.2, 1.6, 65.3, 18.9 and 23.8 million respectively. Furthermore, their biomass was 308.4, 1.9, 1358.9, 295.1 and 124.7 mg/m^3, respectively. The maximum and minimum numbers were observed in Leptolingbaya belonged to Cyanophyta and Diatoms of Chrysophyta 84.3 and 0.025 million (ind/ m^3) respectively. The maximum and minimum biomass was observed in Gyrosigma (Chrysophyta) and Tetradron (Chloropyta), 12317.3 and 0.014 mg/m3 respectively. The average biomass of zooplankton was measured 531.74, 30.77, 225.07, and 96.26 mg/m^3 respectively and the total was attained 883.83 mg/m3 Table 5. The maximum and minimum biomass of all zooplanktons was estimated in November and July, 3446.23 and 6 mg/m^3 respectively. Furthermore, the maximum and minimum numbers of zooplanktons were found in September and July which were 48.4 and 0.002 millions respectively and the average number was 8.4 ind/m^3 Table 4. Also numbers and biomass (gr/m^2) of 11 families of benthos which inhabit Gorgan Bay such as Annelida, Mollusca and Arthropoda were investigated in separated stations and distinctive months. The maximum and minimum biomass of benthos was observed in January (42.91 gr/m^2) and March (0.6428 gr/m^2). The biomass was considerable in April, February, August and December (Tables: 4, 5 and 6)