Occurrence and abundance of fish larvae in the restored mesopotamian Marshlands, Southern Iraq

Abstract EN

Occurrence and abundance of fish larvae in southern Iraqi marshes were studied during 2005 and 2006.

Monthly samples of fish larvae have been collected from three southern marshes (Al-Huwayza, Suq Al-Shuyukh and East Hammar).The results showed that the occurrence of fish larvae in the restored marshes exhibited strong seasonality, as the number of larvae increased slightly during February, peaked during March-April period, then decreased in May, and disappeared in June.

The survey indicated that Al-Huwayza marsh seemed to be the better spawning habitat comparing with the other two studied marshes.

However, larvae of alien species, C.auratus were the most dominant species in 2006 followed by native species L.abu.

In 2005 larvae of native species, A.dispar dominated followed by L.abu.

It seemed that the peak occurrence of fish larvae accompany more with zooplankton bloom than phytoplankton, especially in 2006.

Three groups of larvae emerged, the first consisted of three species (A.dispar, A.mossulensis and A.vorax) shows close relation with zooplankton more than the other two groups.

The second group constituted of two species (C.carpio and C.auratus) were more close to phytoplankton.

The third group includes three species (L.abu, B.sharpyi and B.luteus) were in the middle level between the first two groups.

We can conclude that the southern marshes of Iraq play a vital role in fish conservation and management by increasing aquatic habitat diversity via passive rehabilitation.