Zooplankton diversity of Godavari River at Mudgal Dam, Pathari Dist. Parbhani (M.S.), India

Aquatic ecosystem has a vast diversity of micro-eukaryotes (rotifers, crustaceans and protists), and such diverse taxonomic groups play important roles in ecosystem functioning and services. Farming organisms such as fish receive nutrients other than minerals by taking food. In nature, most organisms survive by consuming live food such as plankton from the environment. Zooplankton are of great importance and basically essential in fish culture. The present work is carried out for the assessment of plankton diversity of Godavari river water in Mudgal dam area for a period of one year starting from March, 2019 to February, 2020. The zooplankton serves as a food for other higher organisms. During the exploration, authors recorded four groups of zooplankton namely Rotifera with 7 species, Cladocera with 5 species, Copepoda 3 species and Ostracoda 2 species.