Composition and structure of pelagic mesozooplankton fauna in the coastal Marrocan sub-region of the Canary Current ecosystem
Vjacheslav Lidvanov, Oksana Grabko
Abstract
The complex analysis of mesozooplankton fauna (with special reference to Copepoda) was fulfilled on the basis of zooplankton sampling carried out in the monitoring regime in the layer 0-100m (on the shelf in the layer 0-bottom) during the period from 1994 to 2007 using the regular stations grid covering the Moroccan sub-region of the Canary Current ecosystem. The species composition, biotopic, bathymetric and zoogeographic structures were determined as well as the frequency of individual taxons occurrence were analyzed. Two species of Copepoda absent in other faunistic lists have been found – south-central sporadically occurred Euchaeta paraconcinna and widely tropical Paracalanus tropicus. Oceanic widely tropical species prevailed numerically in fauna, while neritic widely tropical species formed the basis of the constant species group and created the faunistic background of the sub-region. The occurrence frequency of the main Copepoda species corresponded extensively to their occurrence in the coastal areas of the entire North-Atlantic subtropical circulation.