Fish larvae assemblages of Gökçeada Island, North Aegean Sea: effect of weekly sampling interval on their incidences

Authors: İSMAİL BURAK DABAN, ALİ İŞMEN

Abstract: The species composition and temporal variations of fish larvae in shallow waters (<20 m) of Gökçeada Island located in the North Aegean Sea were studied weekly using WP-2 plankton nets. In this study, a total of 2281 fish larvae belonging to 31 families and 55 species were sampled. The highest biomasses for families were for Clupeidae, Myctophidae, Engraulidae, and Sparidae, whereas the highest species richness for families were for Sparidae, Myctophidae, and Labridae. Sardina pilchardus larvae were the most predominant larval species with a total biomass of 8036.1 ind./1000 m$^{3}$ (55.1%). Significant differences in larval biomass were evident between the months, whereas there were no differences evident between species richness. Biomass and species richness of fish larvae were highest in the winter and summer. Compared with similar studies carried out on larger geographical areas, similar species diversity and biomass were also found in this study. It was observed that the occurrence of some larvae species that had shorter spawning duration increased with the frequent sampling interval.

Keywords: Fish larvae, biomass, species richness, sampling frequency, Northeastern Aegean Sea

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