Mesozooplâncton da região costeira próxima ao Terminal Portuário do Pecém – estado do Ceará

Abstract

Zooplankton makes up an outstanding component of the trophic chain and thus is directly responsible for the secondary production yield. However, as far Ceará State is concerned, hardly any research has been conducted on this biological community in recent years. Therefore, this work was designed to characterize coastal zone mesozooplankton as to abundance, density and diversity based on ten collecting points nearby the Pecém Harbor Dockyard. Sampling was carried out by means of underwater, horizontal, 10-min. hauls with a 120 μm conical net. All samples were fi xed in a 4% formaldehyde solution. The taxa were identifi ed to the lesser possible taxonomic level, being represented by Protozoa, Cnidaria, Mollusca, Annelida, Arthropoda, Chaetognatha, Bryozoa, Echinodermata and Chordata, among which the Copepoda stand out in all sampling. The mesozooplankton community was made out of a mixture of holoplankton and meroplankton following a similar pattern to that of Northeast Brazil.