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.