The composition of the small fish assemblage in Al-Hawizeh marsh, Southern Iraq, after inscription on the World Heritage List
Abstract
A total of 6666 individuals of small fish species were captured from four studied stations w ithin Al-Hawizeh Marsh southern of Iraq from December 2017 to November 2018 to evaluate the fish assemblage in the Al-Hawizeh Marsh environment and identify the most important species suitable for living in the marsh environment. The captured fish were belonged to 13 species; three species achieved 85% of the small fish community in Al-Hawizeh marsh, which follows: Planiliza abu occupied the first rank of 3208 individuals recorded with 48.12%, Coptodon zilli occupied the second rank of 1929 individuals, giving a percentage of 28.94%, whereas Carassius auratus came in the third rank, where achieved 7.93% of the total number of small fish captured in the study area. Nine fish species appeared in (9-12) months (common species), including Alburnus mossulensis, C.auratus , C. zillii , Hemiculter leucisculus, P. abu, Acanthobrama marmid, Carasobarbus luteus Carasobarbus sublimus, and Leuciscus vorax and only one species, Oreochromis aureus recorded in 8 months (seasonal species). Three fish caught showed in only one month (Occasional species) including Mastacembelus mastacembelus, Heteropneustes fossilis, and Silurus triostegus. The ecological indices were used in this study, where diversity index (H) varied from (1.15 - 1.65) with an overall value of 1.46, as well as, the richness index (D) changed from (1.04 -1.77) with an overall value of 1.36. Moreover, the evenness index (J) ranged from 0.57 to 0.67, with an overall value of 0.57.
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