Spiny lobster feeding grounds: an eDNA metabarcoding assessment reveals a high level of plankton biodiversity in Tawang Bay, Indonesia

ABSTRACT Plankton has been considered an important live diet for various marine species including spiny lobster larvae. Thus, studying the diversity and abundance of plankton taxa in the natural settlement habitat of spiny lobster larvae might reveal alternative live diets for the larvae. The study was conducted in Tawang Bay, an important habitat for spiny lobsters in East Java, Indonesia. Plankton samples were collected using a plankton net and analysed using eDNA metabarcoding and high-throughput sequencing. Of the collected samples, 26 phyla, 40 classes, 54 orders, 75 families, 85 genera, and 97 species were identified. Further analysis indicated that the diversity index was considered moderate as the value was 2.16, while the uniformity and dominance indices were 0.22 and 0.24, respectively, which indicates that there is no dominant plankton species in Tawang Bay. Among the identified taxa, at least 18 species including Acartia bispinosa, Oithona simplex, Oithona sp., Pseudodiaptomus euryhalinus, Calocalanus pavo, and Calocalanus minutus are potential live diets for larvae of aquaculture species including lobster and therefore should be further studied.