Investigation of diversity and distribution of starfish and brittle starfish in the Persian Gulf coastal regions of Bushehr Province

Herring is one of the very good detectors for assessing the health and condition of coral reefs and shores in marine waters. The purpose of this study was to investigate the diversity and distribution of Asteroidea and Ophiuroidea in the lower and middle tidal zones of the Persian Gulf coastlines in the area of Bushehr province (Air Force stations, Bandar Rostami, North and South Utah). Sampling from April to March 2017 was performed quarterly in 4 turns and by Quadrat (one meter per meter) and in two transects perpendicular to the sea (width 30 meters) and with an approximate distance of 100 meters. A total of 184 individuals, 7 species including 4 species of starfish, 3 species of fragile star belonging to Astropectinidae (Astropecten polyacanthus phragmorus and Astropecten monacanthus), Asterinidae (Aquilonastra iranica species), Ophidiasteridae (species Linckia multiflora) ,Ophiotrichidae (Ophiothrix sp.) and Ophiocomidae (Ophiocoma  scolopendrina and Ophiocoma sp.) collected. The most frequent species of Ophiothrix sp .Lowercase the least frequent was the Linckia multiflora . Species habitat werer as Astropecten polyacanthus phragmorus tropical sandy beaches, Astropecten monacanthus tidal sandy beaches, Aquilonastra iranica, tidal cliffs and Linckia multiflora, Ophiothrix sp., Ophiocoma scolopendrina species, and Ophiocoma sp. The rocky-coral beds. 90.54% of species had cluster distribution while, while other species had a uniform distribution. The results of Shannon species diversity indices H chr(chr('39')39chr('39'))= 1.7672 and Oz = 0.8754 = Jchr(chr('39')39chr('39')) indicated the relative uniformity and uniformity of stars and fragile stars on the coasts of the Persian Gulf in Bushehr province.