Epibiosis is a common phenomenon in marine systems. In marine environments, ciliates are among the most common organisms adopting an epibiotic habitus and nematodes have been frequently reported as their basibionts. In the present study, we report several new records of peritrich and suctorian ciliates-nematode association worldwide: from a deep-sea pockmark field in the NW Madagascar margin (Indian Ocean), from a shallow vent area in the Gulf of Naples (Mediterranean, Tyrrhenian Sea), in a MPA area in the Gulf of Trieste (Mediterranean, Adriatic Sea), from a mangrove system in French Guiana (South America, Atlantic Ocean), and from the Maldivian Archipelago. In addition, three new species of Suctorea from the Secca delle Fumose shallow vent area (Gulf of Naples) were described: Loricophrya susannae n. sp., Thecacineta fumosae n. sp. and Acinetopsis lynni n. sp. In the light of these new records and data from the existing literature, we discuss the suctorian–nematode epibiosis relationship as a lever to biodiversity.

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Two species of sessile ciliates from subclass Peritrichia, Vorticella pyriforme and Zoothamnium sinense, new for Black Sea, were found in the Kruglaya Bay (the Black Sea) on algae Cystoseira crinita and Cladophora sericea. The article provides a description, systematic position and data on the distribution of the collected species.

The article presents sessile ciliates (Ciliophora) found during first studies of biological diversity of the underwater part of the artificial canal, created in the middle of the 20th century on the western shore of the Balaklava Bay (Sevastopol, the Black Sea), and the natural coastal Catherine Grotto (Cape Aya, the Black Sea). In total, 4 species of ciliates were found, one of which Cothurnia ovalis Kahl, 1933, is new not only for Balaklava Bay, but for the Black Sea. Description of the species, their systematic position, morphometric characteristics and information about their distribution are given.