An Investigation on Macrobenthic Fauna of Kish Coastal Waters

Macrobenthic assemblages of the Kish coastal waters were studied in order to investigate their abundance and distribution. Samples were obtained in triplicates in winter and autumn. Then, samples were taken with a 250 Cm² Van Veen grab. During winter, 251 taxa were identified in which the most abundant groups were Gastropods, Bivalves, Polychaetes, Crustaceans, Sipunculids, Scaphopods and Oligochaets. One species of Brachiopoda (Lingula lingula) among samples is considered as the first records in Kish Island. During autumn, 167 species of Gastropods, 78 species of Bivalves, 7 species of Crustaceans, 6 species of Echinoderms, 3 species of Scaphopods, 1 species of Ostracopods and 1 species of Polyplacophora were identified. Shannon-wiener diversity index fluctuated between 1.58 to 4.7. In winter, there was a significant difference (p<0.05) in abundance but highly significant (p<0.001) among different stations in autumn. Also, t-test showed similar patterns with significant differences among benthos abundance.