spatial and temporal variation in copepod community in the helleh river estuary – south coast of iran, persian gulf

copepods are the main zooplankton assemblages in most tropical and semi-tropical estuaries. in this research, copepod population dynamics were investigated in helleh river estuary, persian gulf during four seasons beginning from summer 2011 to spring 2012.  samples were taken using plankton net with mesh size of 140 µm and vertical towing from 5 fixed-stations in mid-season. results showed that copepod comprised 10 families viz. acartiidae, paracalanidae, pontellidae, temoridae, oithonidae, oncaeidae, corycaeidae, euterpinidae, ectinosomatidae, and miraciidae and 10 genera viz., acartia, paracalanus, labidocera, temora, oithona, oncaea, corycaeus, euterpina, microsetella, and macrosetella. the most dominant copepod was acartia sp., with the highest abundance in the fall (36068.3 ind./m3) and the lowest in the winter (1857.3 ind./m3). diversity was the highest in the summer and the lowest in the winter. there were significant correlations (p