Fish diversity and abundance in GROPOZAG construction in Ujong Batee waters, Aceh Besar District, Indonesia

Abstract

The community structure of fish species including diversity index and abundance is important to be studied as one of the secondary productivity indicators in any ecosystem. Furthermore, species richness and density can be used for conservation and management purposes. GROPOZAG (Groin Porous Zig-Zag Type) is a breakwater building construction designed in the form of cube blocks with holes and arranged zigzag. The purposes of the present study were to assess the abundance and diversity of fish species in GROPOZAG construction area in Ujung Batee water, Aceh Besar. This research was conducted from January to March 2018. The method used in this research was belt transect using visual census. Fish data collection was carried out once a month for three months at the highest tide with a depth 2-4 m and each observation was done three replications. The result of this research found nine families of fish divided into 13 species. Some species were always found in each sampling i.e. Acanthurus auranticavus, Abudefduf vaigiensis, Monodactylus argenteus, and Arothron manilensis. The highest fish abundance was Monodactylus argenteus with an average of 41 individuals/80m2. Most fish species in the GROPOZAG construction were herbivorous fish (62%) and followed by omnivorous (33%), and carnivorous was 5%. The average of fish abundance was 129 individuals/80m2. The value of diversity index (H’) ranged from 1.15 to 1.79 categorized into medium category and evenness index ranged from 0.76 to 0.83 (high category). GROPOZAG construction is affective as a new habitat for aquatic organisms such as fishes.