Exploring Sheraoh Island at South-Eastern Qatar: First Distributional Records of Some Inland and Offshore Biota with Annotated Checklist

Abstract

Sheraoh island is the most remote among Qatari islands, nearly 73.5 km south-eastern of the mainland of the peninsula. In March 2010, a preliminary general survey of the species was conducted. Observations were made partly by wading and snorkeling in the intertidal zone and partly by surveying the inland habitats. In total the 31 species were recorded, 4 species of halophyte plants: Halopeplis perfoliata, Suaeda vermiculata, Salsola baryosoma and Zygophyllum qatarense, one unexpected terrestrial mammal: the cape hare Lepus capensis, 2 species of visiting birds: Motacilla flava and Anthus campestus and one species of sea bird. Hydrophis sp. The most striking result is to collect an unknown nudibranch species and to report the cape hare which is unexpected inhabitant. All figures of this study are published for the first time in Qatar.

Spatial patterns of reef fishes and corals in the thermally extreme waters of Qatar

“…While several shallow sites were known prior to this study (i.e. Fuwayrit, Fasht al Hurabi, Al Ashat, Sheraoh Island) (Foster et al, 2013;Burt et al, 2016;Kardousha et al, 2016;Warren et al, 2016), few deep sites had been documented, other than Halul and Um al Arshan. This study characterized an additional nine sites to the deep and medium-depth sites that were previously undescribed.…”

Whole genome sequencing of marine organisms by Oxford Nanopore Technologies: Assessment and optimization of HMW‐DNA extraction protocols

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Previous biogeographic studies revealed exclusive divergence of animal species composition in Gulf region, particularly in Qatar, as its marine ecosystems are driven mainly by high temperature and salinity with a semi-closed basin, depending thus on water input from the Indian Ocean, supplied on the Gulf's southeast coast, and creating a marine barrier for different species as, for example, Decapods (Al-Khayat & Giraldes, 2020). Due to these peculiar conditions, the fauna and flora have adapted to survive under extreme conditions (Al-Khayat, 2010), contributing to the evolution of the marine species in this area and consequently enriching the environment with endemic species (Fotedar et al, 2019;Giraldes et al, 2020;Kardousha et al, 2016). The identification of some of these species has so far been based on conventional taxonomic parameters, although this type of analysis can be notoriously difficult (Bork, 2015).

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