The effect of algal blooms on fish in their inshore nursery grounds in the Gulf of Gdansk

Studies of cyanobacterial bloom dynamics show that the highest biomass accumulation of Nodularia spumigena is observed in the shallowest area of the Gulf of Gdansk in summer. In the same region and time, the highest fish abundance is observed. Mostly young individuals of gobies, small sanded, flounder, three-spine stickleback and young herring occur. In this work we compare how toxic blooms of cyanobacteria influence the number and structure of fish communities in a coastal zone. The results obtained in our study were rather unexpected. More fish species were caught and the biomass offish was higher during a bloom than in a month following the sampling (no bloom).