Artificial breeding of the native fish Luciobarbus xanthopterus Heckel was conducted for the first time in Basrah at the Marine Science Center's hatchery (2009). We studied energy costs of the metabolic rate of the larval phase, during the period of 45 days, via the experimental laboratory measurements of the oxygen consumption rate at three temperatures 22, 26, 30 (C◦) coincided with the ambient water temperature in the rearing tanks (22.0-29.0 C◦). Direct significant (P < 0.05) positive linear correlations was estimated between time in days and both temperature (Y1) and fresh weight (Y2) of the larvae.Y1 = 0.0804 X +22.922 , R2 0.77, P < 0.05Y2 = 1.2783 X -4.985 , R2 0.90, P < 0.05The rate of oxygen consumption varied from 0.799 mg O2/ ind./d of the mass group (9.58) at 22 C◦, to 39. 36 mg O2 / ind./d of the mass group (35.0 mg) at 26 C◦, and declined to 29.16 mg O2/ ind./d of the mass group (35.0 mg) at 30 C◦, and the mass specific O2 consumption rate (metabolic rate M) varied from 3.170 mg O2/mg/d. to 1.121 mg O2/ mg/d and declined to 0.8304 mg O2/mg/d for the three groups respectively. The energy cost as estimated in cal./mg/d were varied from 2.27 for the period 1-5 days of their life to 1.056 cal./mg/d at the period 40-45 days of their life, and the daily energy costs of one larva was varied from 9.012 cal. during (1-5 days) to 43.041 cal. during days 35-40 of their life, the estimated values represent the routine metabolic rate level (RMR).

The cyclopoid copepod Limnoithona tetraspina was collected for the first time in the Shatt Al-Arab, a river in Iraq, in the summer of 2009; its abundance ranged from 2-16 specimens/m3. Its distribution was restricted to the areas around Al-Sindibad Island and Al-Kornish in waters with temperatures between 27-28°C and salinities less than 4.1‰. A larger number of specimens was collected in August 2012 around Al-Sindibad Island, 134 specimens/m3, and in July 2013 around Al-Kornish, 378 specimens/m3 in waters of comparable temperatures and salinities. The copepod initially was described from the mouth of the Yangtze River, China, in 1976. It was introduced from the Yangtze River into the San Francisco Bay estuary, U.S.A., in 1993, with ship ballast water, and into the Columbia River, U.S.A., in 2003, presumably from the San Francisco Estuary. The origin of the Shatt Al-Arab population is unknown, but it is likely to have been introduced.

The aim of this paper is to present the first record of ctenophore species Pleurobrachia pileus (O. F. Müller, 1776) in the coral reef as was recently found in Iraqi marine waters. The specimens were collected from two sites, the first was in Khor Abdullah during May 2015, and the second site was located in the pelagic water of the coral reef area, near the Al-Basrah deep sea crude oil marine loading terminal. Three samples were collected at this site during May 2015, February and March 2018 which showed that P. pileus were present at a densities of 3.0, 2.2 and 0.55 ind./ m 3 respectively. The species can affect on the abundance of other zooplankton community through predation. The results of examining the stomach contents revealed that they are important zooplanktivorous species; their diets comprised large number of zooplankton as well as egg and fish larvae. The calanoid copepods formed the highest percentage of the diet, reaching 47%, followed by cyclopoid copepods 30%, and then the fish larvae formed 20% of the diet. The current investigation showed that the density of zooplankton decreased significantly in the second site of all the groups, but the highest was in Calanoida group (324 ind./ m 3) coincident with the presence of noticeable numbers of P. pileus (0.55-3.0 ind./ m 3), in the same site compared to the density of Calanoida in the first site, which amounted to 991ind./ m 3 ; as well, the increase was noticeable in relation to the rest of the other groups of zooplankton during the same period; such a state confirms the effect of predation by P. pileus on the zooplankton community. The study recommended that more attention should be given to investigate this group of zooplankton, and specific care should be exerted in preserving the specimens collected from the sea.

Ornithological surveys were conducted at tidal mudflats that nationally represents one of the marine key biodiversity (KBA) areas at Khor Al-Zubair (KBZ) and Umm Qasr south-east of Basrah City, Iraq. On the basis of hourly counting for 7h monitoring period at day time and covering an area of 7.5 km2 of the intertidal zone, a 7 surveys were conducted from March 2019 until January 2020. A total of 7658 individual birds belongs to 54 species have been recorded. The highest numbers of birds per a day were recorded in Autumn and Winter 4869, 1999 respectively, which coincided with the migration seasons. The lowest numbers were recorded during the Summer season just where only 61 birds have been observed. The birds assemblages and their abundance during the high tide times and during the low tide times were compared statistically and the results weren’t different (t < 0.05). Additional observations of different surveys targeted different sites of the KAZ mudflat over the period 2005-2020 have resulted in a final list consists of 102 bird species, a result reflecting the importance of this habitat to various migratory and resident birds.

The stress of acute salinity increase on the life of macro-invertebrates in Shatt Al-Arab River system were investigated based on their abundance estimation acute salinity increase during the year 2018,where the salinity of the River at central, Basrah City became above 5 ppt and reached up to 25 ppt. Review work was done to determine the sizes and densities of the species during the normal conditions in past decades (1975-1995). The results of observations, photography and semi-quantitative sampling which were taken during many visits in the years 2012, 2015, 2016, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 at Al-Salhia, Abo Al-Kassib, Al-Garmma and Al-Gurnah, were expressed in an ordinal six abundant scales (SACFOR), modified for species sizes and densities. All the species were have superabundance or common scale during the period 1975-1995, whereas at 2018-2020 the abundance of all species except M. affinis, were declined in general, 7 species were absent and 3 more were rare. The amphipods Parhyale basrensis, Platorchestia monodi, the isopod Sphaeroma annandalei and the annelid Namalycastis indica were commonly or frequently found at good state indicating their ability to resist the mesohaline conditions, the euryhaline species M. affinis and B. amphitrite weren’t affected. The study concluded that, in case of long term mesohaline conditions, most of the estuarine macro-invertebrates will be unable to persist and may be shifting to the upper reaches of the River.