Prevalence of the protozoan organisms in the Red Sea, Hurghada, Egypt

Abstract

This study was carried out in order to evaluate the distribution and availability of the various protozoan organisms in some stations at Hurghada on the Egyptian coast of the Red Sea beside their response to some of the physico-chemical parameters. Two main phyla were detected at these sampling stations; Ciliophora and Sarcomastigophora. The latter phylum is comprising two subphyla (Mastigophora and Sarcodina). Three various classes were detected in that phylum; Rhizopodea, Actinopodea and Phytomastigophorea. Three different classes of the ciliated protozoa were identified as well which are known as Kinetofragminophorea, Oligohymenophorea and Polyhymenophorea. The different classes of the protozoan organisms comprised too many orders (more than 24 orders) which were illustrated by more than 103 genera/ species. It was proved that certain physico-chemical parameters affect the prevalence of some of these protozoan organisms significantly from the statistical point of view. Simultaneously, time -series analysis proved the presence of cyclic changes in the physico-chemical parameters, protozoan abundance and their numerical densities which fluctuate with the time. This could be interpreted as a result of the presence of a chemostate situation.