ALBERT

Description: Region South East of the Caspian Sea (area Goharbaran) having valuable resources biological flora and fauna, the diversity of commercial fishes, especially reserves the exclusive sturgeon as well as reserves abiotic such as oil and gas resources and transit of goods through Bandar Amirabad to Central Asia , the ecological conditions for the implementation of the project is very necessary. The aim of this study was to determine species composition, spatial and temporal distribution of plankton and fish of this region. Plankton sampled from different depths (5, 10 and 15 m) were carried out. Sampling of phytoplankton did by Ruttner and sampling of zooplankton did by net with mesh size 100 microns. The fish were sampled monthly from December 2013 to July 2014 and within months was carried out. From livestock gill Monofilament.. In this study, a total of 130 species of phytoplankton of 7 filums Bacillariophyta (60 species), Pyrrophyta (23 species), Cyanophyta (22 species), Chlorophyta (14 species), Euglnophyta (9 species), Haptophyta (1 species) and Chrysophyta (1 species )and 24 species of zooplankton branch of Copepoda (5 species), Rotatoria (7 species), porotozoa (3 species), Cladocera (9 species), and Meroplankton (2 species) of larvae of Cypris Balanus and bivalves Lamellibranchiate larvae and 256 fish Acipenser persicus at 5, Alosa braschnikowi 71 number, Alosa caspia 40 number, Benthophilius lipidus 1 number, Cluponella cultriventris 72 number, Cyprinus carpio 1 number, Liza saliens 15 number, Neogobius bathybius 1 number, Neogobius caspia 5 pcs, Neogobius flauviatilis 19 number, Neogobius gorlab 6 number, Rutilus kutum 14 number, Rutilus rutilus 2 pcs, vimba vimba 4 number was observed.Different ecological conditions appointment dietary needs and relationships of organisms and their adaptations to the environment, the density and distribution of different species of phytoplankton, zooplankton and fish specifies.Also the Caspian Sea due to the type of biological species and number of endemic species (42%) in addition to comb jelly invasion, were force of the effects some species like Gloeotrichia Echinulata and as a result, now or in the future, more species will be observed and recognized will be of most interest. Also Psedonitzschia seriata ability to produce Domick acid that can be hazardous to aquatic animals and even human, was in Goharbaran area. This was considered for fishes of the southern Caspian Sea and ecological distribution of most species depends on the region. The abundance of two species of whitefish and pelagic fish in Ghahrebaran region is more than the whole Caspian Sea. On the other hand, the dominant phytoplankton of this region is Bacillariophyta and dominant zooplankton is Copepoda, which shows the goodness of these plankton branches, and by changing the various factors as the different terms of receiving solar energy and resulting in temperature and water currents can cause seasonal differences in the density of the Bacillariophyta branch and also the Copepoda, therefore one of the most important factors is season, and in the winter, when the aquatic rotation of this ecosystem increases, it increases the nutrients and moves it from the floor to the water column, and as a result, increasing the amount of silica in various levels of water can affect the nutrition of fish.

Description: In 1999 Mnemiopsis leidyi was introduced to the Caspian Sea from the Black Sea with ballast waters from the ships. The comprehensive study on probability of controlling Caspian Sea invasive Ctenophora planned after a remarkable of decreeing in Kilka fish catches stocks and fisheris community problems. This study focus on reproduction experiments of Beroe ovata as the best candidate for control of Mnemiopsis population size in the Caspian Sea that was performed in Turkey and Iran during 2002-2003. At 2002, 87 specimens of B. ovata, 10-50 mm transferred to Caspian sea ecology research center from Marmareh sea where acclimated with Caspian sea water gradually. At 2003, experiments were performed near to Black sea (at Sinop) with freshly collected Beroe ovata, 40-65 mm size in three salinity level treatment, the Black sea water 18 , Mixed water 15 and Caspian water 12 . 130 individuals of Beroe ovata were brought from Sinop (Turkey) to Iran during 2003. A number of Beroe specimens were sent to Guilan province for reproduction studies and another part were sent to Mazandaran province for both reproduction and mesocosem studies. For control we had 1 Beroe, length 30 mm in the Black Sea water that was alive during of study in Iran. The Jars were examined each day for ova and larvae and they were collected and put into glass container of Caspian water for hatching and developing survey, some of them were left without any handling for larvae developing. Also in another experiment the eggs collected from jars were placed in the same three treatments for studying of growth and survival. The results were unsuccessful on propagation experiments at 2002 since the spawning and hatching rates were very low (20 ova) and, none of the larvae developed into adults in Caspian Sea water. The spawning was more in Marmareh sea water with 138 ova where only 7 larvae was hatched. Results showed that Beroe specimens is able to survive and reproduce in Caspian water but was not as well as Black Sea also the Beroe larvae growth rate is low in the Caspian Sea water. Maximum fecundity of Beroe individual was 2212 and 235 ovae in Caspian Sea water in site Sinop and Iran respectively. Results showed 34-100% eggs in Caspian Sea water were destroyed and did not develop. In Iran we obtained only one larvae with 5 mm length, other larvae were at different stages of development but most of them were 1.2 2 mm. The results of mesocosm survey showed most of ova and larvae have been obtained from the tanks where individuals B. ovata were with Mnemiopsis. Fecundity of Beroe in the control with Black Sea water were between 17 to 1879 with average of 828 ± 112 ova. The poor results of B. ovata reproduction obtained in this survey in Caspian Sea may be due to transportation and acclimation stress and low salinity of Caspian Sea water.

Description: This project has been started as monitoring study since 2001 that in first phase has lasted for two years and because of its importance, it was decided that this study should be continued for two other years. In the early 1980s, an alien ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi already known as a gelatinous zooplankton was transported (likely via ballast waters) to the Black Sea from its native waters of the western Atlantic. The possibility of Mnemiopsis leidyi introduction into other sensitive, neighboring ecosystems, notably the Caspian Sea, had been mentioned during the GESAMP meeting in 1994. And, as expected, this ctenophore was reported to be present in the Caspian Sea by November 1999. In this report, spatial and temporal distribution of M. leidyi had been investigated in southern Caspian Sea (Iranian waters) in 6 transects consisted of Lisar, Anzali, Sefidroud, Nowshar, Babolsar and Amirabad at 24 stations during 2003 and 2004. As a whole, 818 samples had been analyzed included 236, 302, 136 and 144 belong to ctenophore, phytoplankton, zooplankton and benthos. Meantime 811 physicochemical parameters had been measured. Water temperature varied between 7.8 to 29.3 co. Transparencies also fluctuated from 0.20 to 10.5 m. Salinity in different regions was from 7.80 to 13.90 ppt and the average was 12.09 ppt. pH was between 7.2- 8.6. Demand oxygen (O2) has been measured very high in water surface (12.89 µg.l) and it decreased at minimum level in deep down to 4 µg.l. Nutrients measurements such as NO_2, NO_3 and NH_4 were 0.10-15.17 , 3.80- 133.40 and 0.36- 86.40 µg.l, respectively. Total nitrate and phosphate were measured between 337.00- 1635.00 and 14.90-103.40 µg.l, respectively. Comparison of M. leidyi distribution in the southern Caspian Sea shown that maximum abundance recorded in warm summer months (e.g. August) with 11627 ind.m^2 and its biomass maximum was in autumn months (September and October) about 446.11 gr.m^2 . Mean abundance and biomass of M. leidyi were 2504 ind.m^2 and 142.42 gr.m^2, respectively. Maximum size of the ctenophore recorded as 70 mm while the less than 10 mm length frequency consisted 92.2 per cent of total population. Spatial distribution of M. leidyi in different regions shown that Sefidroud not only had the maximum Mnemiopsis abundance but also consisted higher biomass in the southern Caspian Sea in 2003-4. At present study, 142 phytoplankton species were identified which belongs to Chrysophyta (67, 48), Chlorophyta (23, 16%), Cyanophyta (22, 15%), Pyrhophyta (21, 15%) and Euglenophyta (9, 6%). Mean phytoplankton abundance and biomass were 11137032 ind. m^3 and 40.26 mg. m^3, respectively. Chrysophyta (diatoms) consisted 42 and 47% of whole phytoplankton abundance and biomass. In the other hand, this group included 50 % of phytoplankton population. In zooplankton study, there were identified 21 species in which 10 species were only meroplankton (zoobenthic) and 11 species was holoplankton. These species belongs to Copepoda (4, 37%), Rotatoria (4, 36%), Cilliophora (2, 18%) and Cladocera (1, 9%). Monthly zooplankton abundance and biomass data shown that its population completely effected by Copepoda. Among copepoda, Acartia clausi was the main species duri ng 2003-4. As a whole, maximum abundance recorded in spring (March) and autumn (September) about 11497 and 11321 ind. m^3 while its maximum biomass occurred in summer (August) with 48.95 mg. m^3. Zooplankton minimum abundance and biomass were in wintertime about 3894 ind. m^3 and 10.16 mg. m^3. Benthic fauna in recent study consisted 27 species included Gammaride (8, 29%), Cumacea (7, 26%), Polychaeta (4, 15%), Bivalvia (3, 11%) and Oligochaeta, Balanidae and Xantidae each one (4%) species. Mean benthic abundance and biomass were 1215 ind. m^ 2 and 20.09 g. m^2, respectively. Polychaeta and Oligochaeta were established maximum frequency about 49 and 34% of total fauna while Bivalvia consisted 82.8% biomass overall.