Check list of plankton of the northern Red Sea

Qualitative estimation of phytoplankton and zooplankton of the northern Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba were carried out from four sites: Sharm El-Sheikh, Taba, Hurghada and Safaga. A total of 106 species and varieties of phytoplankton were identified including 41 diatoms, 53 dinoflagellates, 10 cyanophytes and 2 chlorophytes. The highest number of species was recorded at Sharm El-Sheikh (46 spp), followed by Safaga (40 spp), Taba (30 spp), and Hurghada (23 spp). About 95 of the recorded species were previously mentioned by different authors in the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez. Eleven species are considered new to the Red Sea. About 115 species of zooplankton were recorded from the different sites. They were dominated by four main phyla namely: Arthropoda, Protozoa, Mollusca, and Urochordata. Sharm El-Sheikh contributed the highest number of species (91) followed by Safaga (47) and Taba (34). Hurghada contributed the least (26). Copepoda dominated the other groups at the four sites. The appearances of Spirulina platensis, Pediastrum simplex, and Oscillatoria spp. of phytoplankton in addition to the rotifer species and the protozoan Difflugia oblongata of zooplankton impart a characteristic feature of inland freshwater discharge due to wastewater dumping at sea in these regions resulting from the expansion of cities and hotels along the coast

Phytoplankton and environmental variables as a water quality indicator for the beaches at Matrouh, South-Eastern Mediterranean Sea, Egypt: an assessment

This study was carried out to determine the water quality of the beaches at Matrouh, south-eastern Mediterranean Sea, Egypt, by studying environmental variables as well as phytoplankton abundance and community structure. Surface water samples were monitored from a series of beach sites over a period of five seasons during 2009–2010. A total of 203 phytoplankton species were identified from seven algal divisions. Seasonal differences in the quantitative and qualitative composition of the phytoplankton communities in the different sites were marked. Nutrient concentrations and phytoplankton abundances were found to be poorer than those of many other areas along Egyptian coast. The Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index classified Matrouh water as being between clean and moderately polluted, whereas the WQI demonstrated that it was between good and excellent. It can be concluded that the index based onWQI is currently more suitable than the phytoplankton species index for assessing the quality of the water of the Matrouh beaches