An Ecological Survey of Littoral Rotifera from Some Selected Areas of Iraq:II. South of Iraq

To increase an ecological information on Iraqi rotifers I collected rotiferan samples from fourteen different waterbodies in the governates of Southern Iraq, two of them at Al-Qadisiyyah: The five Shuhada Bridge (1) and Corniche of Diwaniyah (2); two stations at Al-Muthanna: Corniche of Samawah (3) and Al-Shuhada Bridge (4), three stations at ThiQar: Euphrates River (5), Alwafa canal (6) and Al-Holindi Bridge (7); three stations atMaysan: Al-Shuhada Bridge (8), Nazim Al-Kahla River (9) and Nazim Al-Musharah River (10) and four stations at Basrah: Ad dayr Bridge (11), Garmat Ali Bridge (12), Alkhora River (13) and Abu Alkasib Coast (14) through the period between 24-27 May 2011. Littoral rotifers were sampled by filtering an approximate volume of 100 liters of waterusing a mesh size 50 μm plankton net. At the time of survey, some physical and chemical variables of the water body were measured by portable field instrument: water temperature (30-34°C), dissolved oxygen (6.5-9 mg/l), salinity (0.7-4 ‰), pH (6.5-8.18) and nitrate (1.29-8.13mg/l). Identified rotifers belonged to thirty onespecies of eleven genera which by turn are related to eight families registered. Bdelloidea and three species were recorded from all the stations, these are, Brachionusplicatilis, Colurellaadriatica and Keratellaquadrata.