Abstract

Although several zooplankton studies have been conducted in embayments of Puerto Rico, demersal species have not been recognized and their contribution to the total zooplankton community is not well-known. The zooplankton of Phosphorescent Bay. Puerto Rico were sampled during diurnal and nocturnal net tows and in diving collections between 16 May and 26 August, 1992. Twenty-two putative taxa were common in the samples. Six of these taxa were classified as demersal, eight as meroplanktonic, and four as incidental. The remaining multispecies groups yielded variable results. Statistically significant variations in numbers of zooplankton capture were found among lunar periods and substrata. All demersal taxa and two meroplanktonic groups emerged in greater numbers during either lunar quarter of de new moon. In contracts, one metroplanktinic taxon displayed significant emergence during full moons. Most copepods were common in samples from patches of the seagrass Thalassia testudinun, although the copepods Acartia spp., Pseudodiaptomus cokeri, Longipedia helgolandica, Euterpina acutifrons and other unidentified spicies of harpacticoids were taken in greater numbers from either macroalgae, san or mud. Cirriped nauplii, amphipods, tanaids, nematodes, decapod zoeae and other invertebrate larvae were also common in these three substrata

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