Winter Time Ichthyoplankton Assemblages Following Dense Mucilage Event in the Sea Of Marmara, Türkiye

The community structure of ichthyoplankton after mucilage was investigated. For this purpose, three ichthyoplankton survey were conducted from 34 stations between December 2021 and March 2022. A total of 19 fish egg and 16 fish larvae species were identified. It was detected that the biodiversity of winter time ichthyoplankton was higher than previous studies. European Sprat, Sprattus sprattus had the highest mean biomass for both fish eggs and fish larvae, whereas Sardine, Sardina pilchardus had relatively low biomass. Karacabey Floodplain area, Büyükçekmece estuarine area and Erdek Bay were the most important spawning areas for winter spawners. It was found that ecosystem health of the Marmara Sea was suitable for fertilization, hatching and larval growth soon after the mucilage and hydrological regime recover itself immidiatelly.