Fish larval daily assemblage variations in coastal waters of the Chabahar Bay

Abstract

The survey of fish larvae assemblage variation was done in 2013 seasonally at the coastal areas of Southeastern side of Chabahar Bay. Sampling was done in 3 stations at day and night periods by a Bongo-Net with 300µ of mesh size. 29 families were identified. Clupeidae, Gobiidae and Blenniidae were dominant with more than 50% relative abundance. The PCA result was shown there were two separated groups among day and night fish larval assemblages. Blenniidae ،Scombridae and Clupeidae in day times, Clupeidae ،Gobiidae and Sparidae in night times were more dominant among different families. Station 1 had more fish larvae abundance in autumn in nights and days (54.77 and 79.67 larvae per 10 meter). The average of Shannon index was (0.54 ±0.88 and 0.63± 0.97) in days and nights respectively.Significant increase of larval abundance at station 3 in nights could be due to reduced vessel traffic.