Identification and study of some ecological indicators of Scyphomedusae from coastal waters of Khuzestan and Hormozgan (the North of Persian Gulf)

Coastal waters of Khuzestan and Hormozgan provinces are very important in the fisheries industry. Due to of direct and indirect impacts of the Jellyfish on the dynamic of fish larvae and zooplankton, study of their population is very important. So that in this study scyphomedusae were collected in summer and winter of 2015 from 6 stations of coastal waters of Khuzestan and Hormozgan. Sampling was taken place using a shrimp trawl net with 55 mm mesh size. The physicochemical parameters of water also were measured while sampling. A total of 8 species of Medusa were identified based on morphological traits. The most abundant species in both seasons and in coasts of Khuzestan and also Hormozgan provinces was Catostylus tagi. The species Marivagia stellate together with Cyanea sp. and Chrysaora spp. genera were reported for the first time from the Persian Gulf waters. Also results of PCA showed that in the first component, the highest correlation obtained between C. tagi and M. stellata with temperature and in the second component, the highest correlation was found between Chrysaora sp1 and salinity. The Shannon diversity Index was calculated to a small extent in Khuzestan waters relative to the coastal waters of Hormozgan. Crambionella orsini species was found only in coastal waters of Khuzestan and Cassiopea andromeda species only in Hormozgan coastal waters.