Identification of Marine Zooplankton in the Maheshkhali Channel, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

The purpose of the study was to identify and characterize marine zooplankton in the Maheshkhali Channel, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. A total of 25 species were identified from the samples collected from the surface water during November, 2022. They were categorized into 4 major groups such as copepoda, crustaceans, ichthyoplankton and meroplankton. Copepods were the most dominant. Among the copepods, Oithona sp., Oncaea sp., Calanus sp., Subeucalanus flemingeri, Cyclops sp., Acartia sp., Labidocera sp. and Canthocalanus pauper were ubiquitous, with Oithona brevicornis, Oithona nana, Acartia tonsa, Subeucalanus sp. being moderately frequent. The presence of Centropages sp., Paracalanus aculeatus, Paracalanus sp., Pseudodiaptomas sp. and Acartia (Odonticartia) ohtsukai were rare. Shrimp larvae, crab zoea and ichthyoplankton were moderately found. Mysid shrimps were found to be highly prevalent whereas ctenophora larvae were less frequent. Copepod, naupliar larvae and copepodites were observed to be consistently present throughout the observed area. The identified species possess great significance in the marine food web. This investigation is the baseline study of marine zooplankton in the Maheshkhali Channel. Further research, therefore, is recommended to identify zooplankton species through microscopic and molecular methods in the coastal waters of Bangladesh.