A study of plankton composition and abundance in fish pond at Pengkalan Gelap, Setiu

Abstract

Plankton research is critical in the aquaculture as the plankton serve as live food for the fish cultured. This study is focused on the plankton composition and abundance in different type of aquaculture pond. Different types of pond hold different fish stage; larvae and juvenile stage. This study was done at Kampung Pengkalan Gelap, Setiu from May to July 2010. Sample of water from four different type of pond is collected using hand net with 20 µm mesh size were brought back to lab for plankton analysis. The sample is preserved using 4% buffered formalin for zooplankton and Lugol's iodine for phytoplankton. The pond is juvenile pond, fish larvae pond, plankton cultured pond and control pond. The phytoplankton and zooplankton were identified and counted using Lackeys method for phytoplankton and zooplankton is using the formula to calculate the density. To know what species of plankton is abundance in pond is important. For phytoplankton, genus Chaetoceros is the most abundance where it presents in all ponds. The higher density of phytoplankton recorded in fish larvae pond with the value 3.34x10 cells/L.