Diversity and Abundance of Copepods in Taninthayi Coastal Waters, Myanmar

Diversity and abundance of copepods occurring in Taninthayi coastal waters were studied and analyzed from the samples collected by R/V DR. FRIDTJOF NANSEN during the Myanmar ecosystem survey 2018. Seventy-nine copepods species belonging to calanoids (51 species), cyclopoids (21 species), and harpacticoids (7 species) were identified in the copepods community of Taninthayi coastal waters. Copepods species number and density were high at the nearshore stations (Sts 799, 842, 788) and low at the offshore stations (Sts 846, 802, 823). The resulted diversity index values of copepods were varied from 2.61 to 3.78 in species diversity index (H'), from 0.89 to 0.97 in the evenness index (E'), and from 2.51 to 7.50 in species richness index (D'). According to the correlation matrix, the abundance of copepods was positively correlated with temperature, chlorophyll a and fluorescence, and negatively correlated with salinity and oxygen.