Identification and study of monthly variations of Appendicularian communities around Hormuz Island waters

The class of Appendicularians or Larvacea are marine suspension feeders that found widely in most oceans in the world, often being one of the most common groups in zooplankton communities. In this study, monthly sampling was carried out around the coastal waters of Hormuz Island, in the Persian Gulf from August 2011 to June 2012 with a plankton net (300µm mesh size). Oblique tows were made from near the bottom to the surface at four localities (South, North, East and West) of the Island each having two stations. 9 species (including two unidentified species) belonging to four genera, notably Oikopleura dioica, O. longicuada, O. fusiformis, O. rufescens, Stegosoma magnum, Megalocercus huxleyi, Fritillaria formica digitata. O. rufescens, O. longicuada, O. fusiformis, Oikopleura sp1 and O. sp2 occurred in more than 80% of the samples. Maximum abundance was during the April (57.94 ±32.3 ind. m-3), while minimum values occurred in August (zero ind. m-3).