Abu El-Regal, M., Abu Zeid, M., Hellal, A., Maaty, M. (2014). Abundance and diversity of reef fish larvae in Mabahiss Bay, on the Egyptian Red Sea coast. Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, 18(4), 63-79. doi: 10.21608/ejabf.2014.2230
Mohammed Abu El-Regal; Mohammed Abu Zeid; Ahmed Hellal; Mahmoud Maaty. "Abundance and diversity of reef fish larvae in Mabahiss Bay, on the Egyptian Red Sea coast". Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, 18, 4, 2014, 63-79. doi: 10.21608/ejabf.2014.2230
Abu El-Regal, M., Abu Zeid, M., Hellal, A., Maaty, M. (2014). 'Abundance and diversity of reef fish larvae in Mabahiss Bay, on the Egyptian Red Sea coast', Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, 18(4), pp. 63-79. doi: 10.21608/ejabf.2014.2230
Abu El-Regal, M., Abu Zeid, M., Hellal, A., Maaty, M. Abundance and diversity of reef fish larvae in Mabahiss Bay, on the Egyptian Red Sea coast. Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, 2014; 18(4): 63-79. doi: 10.21608/ejabf.2014.2230
Abundance and diversity of reef fish larvae in Mabahiss Bay, on the Egyptian Red Sea coast
1Marine Science Department, Faculty of Science, Port Said University, Port Said, Egypt.
2Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt
3National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Hurghada, Red Sea, Egypt
Abstract
The larvae of coral reef fishes have been studied in order to determine the composition of fish larval community in Mabahiss bay located at Hurghada on the Egyptian Red Sea coast. Fish larvae were collected monthly from November 2012 to October 2013 by plankton net of 0.5 mm mesh size.A total of 1336 fish larvae comprising 57 fish taxa were recorded from all habitats. The highest number of larvae (517) was collected from the open water areas, whereas the lowest of 129 larvae were taken from seagrass areas. The highest number of species was recorded from the open water areas (39 taxa), while the lowest number of species was taken from the seagrass area (19 taxa). Results obtained from the present study reflect the importance of different Red Sea habitats to the early life history of reef fishes and how they could support these stages.