SEASONAL CYCLE OF PLANKTONIC COMMUNITIES AT INHACA-ISLAND, SOUTHERN MOZAMBIQUE

Monthly plankton sampling was carried out at three stations on the wes t coast of Inhaca Island, southern Mozambique, from August 1994 to Aug ust 1995. Sampling included water mass physical parameters, nutrients, chlorophyll and zooplankton with nets of 125 and 330 mu m pore apertu re. Nutrient concentration has shown maxima during the summer months, where rain provides the maximum outflow of rivers discharging into Map uto Bay. Following the nutrient peak, chlorophyll a has shown maxima a round the month of April, with another minor peak in September, when t emperature begins to increase. Zooplankton densities followed closely the phytoplankton peaks, especially small herbivorous taxa and larval stages, such as gastropod and bivalve larvae.