Distribution, frequency and biomass of macrobenthos of Gorgan Bay and south east of Caspian Sea, Golestan Province

Subject Areas : Marine Biology

M. Saghali ¹ , R. Bagherov ² , R. Patimar ³ , S. A. Hosseini ⁴ , N. M. Makhtomi ⁵

1 - Faculty of Zoology, National Academy of Sciences of Baku, Azerbaijan
2 - Dep. of Ecology, Oil Company of Azerbaijan
3 - Ghonbad Agriculture University
4 - Gorgan Agriculture University
5 - Golestan Fisheries Organization, Gorgan

Received: 2012-02-01 Accepted : 2012-11-04 Published : 2013-02-19

Keywords: biomass, Caspian Sea, Macrobenthos, Gorgan Bay,

Abstract :

In present research biomass, frequency and distribution of macrobenthos in Gorgan Bay was studied in 8 stations in 4 seasons in 2009. Sampling was done by Van Ven Grab in 3 replicates in each station. Identified macrobenthos belonged to 13 families. The most abundant family was Ampharetidae (76%) compared to total population of macrobenthos. Balanidae (10%), Cardiidae (6%) and Nereidae (4%) had the next abundance. Maximum biomass of macrobebthos was observed in Cardiidae (45%), Balanidae (44.78%), Nereidae (5.8%) and Tubificidae (5.27%), respectively. The greatest frequency of macrobenthos was found in spring with 4110/m2 and the least was in winter with 29.25/m2. Maximum and minimum of biomass was observed in spring (33.568 g/m2) and winter (.080 g/m2) respectively.