The Arabian Sea: Physical environment, zooplankton and myctophid abundance

Citation
Kkc. Nair et al., The Arabian Sea: Physical environment, zooplankton and myctophid abundance, I J MAR SCI, 28(2), 1999, pp. 138-145
Citations number
39
Categorie Soggetti
Aquatic Sciences
Journal title
INDIAN JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCES
ISSN journal
03795136 → ACNP
Volume
28
Issue
2
Year of publication
1999
Pages
138 - 145
Database
ISI
SICI code
0379-5136(199906)28:2<138:TASPEZ>2.0.ZU;2-1
Abstract
The Arabian Sea is one of the most productive regions of the world oceans. This productivity mainly results from coastal and open ocean upwelling in s ummer and cooling effects during winter. Earlier and more recent studies sh owed that there are considerable spatial and temporal variations in the are a in primary productivity. Nonetheless, contrary to earlier thinking, it wo uld seem that the mesozooplankton abundance in the Arabian Sea is fairly hi gh in the mixed layer all through the year. This paradox of the Arabian Sea could be partly resolved by explaining the microbial loop and a fresh set of data is presented here in support. This is because most of the herbivoro us forms are either small filter feeders like copepods or larger mucous fil ter feeders like tunicates which are able to feed on very small particles. It would seem that the Arabian Sea sustains a large biomass of mesopelagic fishes (about 100 million tonnes), mainly myctophids. They mostly live in t he core of oxygen minimum layer and ascend to the surface layers during nig ht to feed on the abundant zooplankton.