Investigation of the distribution frequency and biodiversity of Zooplankton for aquaculture development in Soomeeholeya Dam Lake.

In the plan of developing aquaculture and increasing production in Soomeeholeya lake Dam in the East Azerbaijan, zooplankton studies were considered as basic studies and the possibility of increasing production in line with aquaculture and fish production in lake. In this project, 5 study stations were considered in the area of the dam lake and the river entrance.The studies started quarterly from the winter of 2010 and continued for one year until the fall of 2011. For zooplankton sampling, 30 liters of water was filtered by a 30-micron zooplankton hunting net. Finally, the samples were fixed with %4 formalin and in the laboratory, after preparation, they were identified and counted under an inverted microscope. In zooplankton studies, 5 Phyla and 19 genera were identified in this lake. In total, Rotifra with the genera of Polyarthra, Syncheata, Keratella and Cephalodella and an average of 240 per liter and 66.4% of the zooplankton population are the most abundant and Ciliphora with an average of 87 per liter and % 41.4 of the zooplankton population of the lake are in the next rank. Comparison of planktonic observations and environmental water factors has shown that, Vahdat reservoir dam is still young and has the talent and suitable species of zooplankton for feeding, breeding fish and their larvae, but the lake fauna need several years to complete the life cycle and adapt to the lake conditions.