SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE SWARM OF PEGEA CONFOEDERATA(TUNICATA: SALPIDAE) IN MIANIHOR, BALOCHISTAN, PAKISTAN

Abstract

A swarm of salpid Pegea confoederata was observed in the Miani Hor lagoon on 27 February 2017. The swarm which was consisted predominantly of pelagic tunicate was found to be widely distributed within the lagoon whereas the swarm was not observed outside the Miani Hor except near the entrance. In addition to tunicates, specimens of hydrozoan jellyfish Aequorea pensilis (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) were also present in this swarm. The swarm, which had disrupted fishing operations, dissipated in five days and by March 4, 2017 it completely disappeared from the Miani Hor lagoon. The paper also discusses the role of gelatinous zooplankton in dynamics of the oceanic processes