Aquaculture Studies 2017, Vol 17, Num, 4

Blenniidae Larval Diversity Abundance and Distribution in İzmir Bay

Tülin ÇOKER 1

1 Muğla Sıtkı Koçman Üniversitesi, Su Ürünleri Fakültesi, Kötekli/MUĞLA DOI : 10.17693/yunusae.vi.350125 Viewed : 3420 - Downloaded : 1633 The abundance and distribution of the larvae of Blenniidae in İzmir Bay was investigated in the scope of the present study. To this aim, samples collected from 12 stations located at different parts of the bay were examined during the period of March-November in 1989 and 1990. Horizontal hauls were operated with WP-2 type plankton net with 200 mikron mesh size at speed of 2.5 knots in 15 minutes period of time. As a result, postlarvae of 7 species, namely Salaria pavo (Risso, 1810), Parablennius gattorugine (Linnaeus,1758), Parablennius sanguinolentus (Pallas,1814), Parablennius tentacularis (Brünnich,1768), Blennius ocellaris Linnaeus,1758, Aidablennius sphynx (Valenciennes,1836) and Coryphoblennius galerita (Linnaeus,1758) were recorded during the course of the study. Abundant species were P. gattorugine (37%), S. pavo (31%) and P. tentacularis (22%). P.gattorugine was the only species encountered at all the stations during all sampling months, present abundantly at almost all the parts of the bay. Maximum number of individuals and species was found at Station 5 (Tuzla) in May. The identified species of Blenniidae were mainly distributed at the Middle Bay and all the areas except the harbour of Inner Bay and the deepest part of the Outer Bay. Coastal inshore of the Middle Bay and Outer Bay were the areas where the larvae were abundantly found. Temperature and salinity respectively ranged between 11.00-28.44°C and 34‰- 39.28‰ at the stations where larvae were recorded. The sea water parameters at Tuzla, where they mostly localized were 15.8°C for temperature and 37.4‰, for salinity. Keywords : Blenniidae Larvae, Ichthyoplankton, İzmir Körfezi