Studies on Oceanic Zooplankton in the Continental Slope of Andaman Waters of Bay of Bengal

The biomass, density, diversity and distribution of oceanic zooplankton were studied from 25 stations along the continental slope of Andaman waters of Bay of Bengal during February to March 2007. A total of 68 species of zooplankton belonging to 56 genera and 16 groups were recorded from the waters of the continental slope. The biomass of zooplankton in terms of dry weight ranged from 792-2828mg/100m³ while volume and numerical density varied from 8.1-16.2 mL/100m³ and 19240-47223 Nos./100m³ respectively. Copepods were the dominant group in all the stations of study. The results obtained for the physico-chemical parameters of seawater are also discussed in the paper.