Meroplankton composition and abundance in Ambon Bay, Maluku

Here we present the study of meroplankton in Ambon Bay. This study aims to determine the composition and abundance of meroplankton in Ambon Bay. Sixteen stations (eight in the IAB and eight in the OAB) were sampled in March 2022. A plankton sampling was carried out using a plankton net with a mesh size of 300 microns and a diameter of 30 cm drawn at a depth of 10 meters to the surface. The study results showed that the meroplankton in Ambon Bay at the time of observation consisted of fish larvae, fish eggs, Echinodermata larvae, gastropoda larvae,cirripedia larvae, stomatopoda larvae, bracyura larvae (megalopa), bracyura larvae (zoea), nauplius crustacea, sea anemone larvae, other crustacea larvae and annelida larvae. The abundance of meroplankton in the IAB is higher than in the OAB. ANOSIM showed significant differences between IAB and OAB (p <0.05). SIMPER analysis showed that the mean dissimilarity between IAB and OAB was of 56.16%. The meroplankton group was dominated by Echinodermata larvae, which were found to dominate at all research stations, especially in the inner bay of Ambon, with the highest abundance found at station 4, which was 120.31 ind.m−3.