Zooplankton Biomass and Composition in the Western Bay of Bengal during late SW Monsoon

Abstract

Copepoda formed the predominant group except in the southern region where a swarm of pelagic tunicates reduced their contribution to only 19% of the total zooplankton count. Decapod larvae occurred in fairly large numbers all along the coastal and neritic regions of the southwestern Bay of Bengal. Other groups like chaetognaths, ostracods, amphipods, euphausiids, fish eggs, fish larvae, polychaetes, cladocerans, planktonic molluscs, etc. contributed to a lesser percentage of the general composition of zooplankton. Upwelling along the southern part of the western Bay of Bengal during this season may account for the rich zooplankton population towards the south