ZOOPLANKTON COMPOSITION IN DHARAMTAR CREEK ADJOINING BOMBAY HARBOR

Dharamtar creek maintained rich zooplankton standing stock (av. 30.3 m l.100 m-3) with peak production during August-November. Zooplankton pr oduction rate for the entire system amounted to 10.32 mg C.100 m-3. d- 1 with an annual turnover of 29 ton C.km-2. A major share of the zoopl ankton community was contributed by copepods (71.9%), decapods (11.4%) and chaetognaths (8.3%). Copepod diversity was maximum in October. Am ong the 46 species of copepods, Acartia spinicauda and Acrocalanus sp. dominated the outer and inner zones of the creek respectively. Brachy uran larvae predominated among the decapods. Swarming of Lucifer was o bserved in November at the outer zone. Three species of chaetognaths w ere found in the area and Sagitta bedoti was the true inhabitant. In g eneral zooplankton production indicated 1.5 fold increase, towards the upper reaches of the creek where salinity variations were drastic. A more diversified faunal assemblage of oceanic and neritic species char acterised the lower estuarine zone having less salinity fluctuations.