DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF ROTIFERS IN THE RIVER NILE, EGYPT
Faten A. Elfeky1, Nehad K. Sayed2
1Faculty of Science, Girls Branch Al-Azhar University, Cairo , Egypt.
2National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries , El Qanater Elkairia.
Rotifers are one of the most important groups of fresh water zooplankton in Egypt. A total of 56 species were recorded in the River Nile belonging to 25 genera identified from 28 samples collected seasonally from 28 stations along the River Nile from Chema in the south to Faraskour. The most dominant rotifer fauna was the plankotinc genera, Keratella, Brachionus, Polyarthra, Conchilus, Synchaeta, Collotheca, Philodina, Filina, Asplanchna and Anuraeopsis. Rotifers are distributed along the River Nile with different density , increased toward the downstream of the river. Rotifer recorded the maximum number(15690000 organisms/m³) in autumn season followed by (10031000 organisms/m³), (9849000 organisms/m³), and (6763666.67 organisms/m³) in spring, winter and summer respectively.
December 2011