Sipunculans from the coast of northern Cyprus   (eastern Mediterranean Sea)

Abstract

The present study deals with the species of Sipuncula collected from northern Cyprus in 1997 and 1998 by RV K. Piri Reis at depths ranging from 0 to 600 m. Faunistic analysis of the material yielded a total of 6 species and 5 subspecies belonging to four families Golfingiidae, Phascolionidae, Phascolosomatidae, and Aspidosiphonidae, of which four species (Nephasoma (Nephasoma) constrictum, Phascolosoma (Phascolosoma) scolops, P. (P.) agassizii agassizii and P. (P.) stephensoni) are reported for the first time from the eastern Mediterranean. Among the habitats sampled, Posidonia oceanica and mud were represented by the highest number of species (6 species), followed by rocks (5 species) and Cystoseira crinita (5 species). Quantitative analysis of shallow-water benthic habitats indicated that sipunculan density in the area ranged from 25 individuals m-2 to 350 individuals m-2. According to the MDS analysis, there are two major species assemblages in the area, mainly structured by the types of habitats and depth.

A new species of African Forest Robin from Gabon (Passeriformes: Muscicapidae: Stiphrornis)

“…Nephasoma (N.) constrictum was found at 115-194 m depths in the present study. This species was previously reported at 1530-4000 m from the east Atlantic Ocean (Cutler & Cutler 1987), at 205-2035 m from the Mediterranean and the east Atlantic Ocean (Saiz Salinas & Villafranca Urchegui 1990;Açik et al 2005), and at 350-4350 m from the Indian Ocean (Cutler & Cutler 1996). The length of trunk and height of hooks of specimens from the Aegean Sea (range: 1.15-6.1 mm; 12.5-17.5 μm) are much smaller than those reported from the east Atlantic Ocean (range: 8-32 mm; 20-40 μm) by Cutler & Cutler (1987).…”

“…The most abundant species in the present study was Onchnesoma steenstrupii steenstrupii, which occurred at depths ranging from 5 to 195 m. The maximum depth range of this species was previously reported as 643 m in the northwest Atlantic coast (Cutler 1973); as 2990 m in the east Atlantic coast (Cutler & Cutler 1987); as 3362 m in the northeast Atlantic coast (Saiz Salinas 1988b); and as 337 m on the coast of Cyprus (Açik et al 2005). The maximum trunk length (2.4 mm) of O. steenstrupii steenstrupii specimens collected from the Aegean Sea is much smaller than that reported from the Alboran Sea and the east Atlantic Ocean (8.2 mm) by Saiz Salinas & Villafranca Urchegui (1990).…”

“…muelleri kovalevskii from the coast of Portugal and found that some specimens with spines on anal shields had both unidentate and bidentate hooks. In contrast to this assumption, Pancucci-Papadopoulou et al (1999) and Açik et al (2005) found only unidentate hooks on specimens that bear spines on the anal shield and so they considered that the two subspecies are distinct. In this study, I found specimens with spines on the anal shield that possessed both unidentate and bidentate hooks on the introvert.…”

“…In the other basins of the Mediterranean, there is relatively more information about the distribution and ecology of sipunculans (see Pancucci-Papadopoulou et al 1999). A total of 16 sipunculan species were reported in the Adriatic Sea (Pancucci-Papadopoulou et al 1999); 14 species in the Alboran Sea (Saiz Salinas & Villafranca-Urchegui 1990); 23 species on the coast of Spain (Saiz Salinas 1993b); and 19 species from the Levantine Sea (Açik et al 2005).…”

Observations on the population characteristics of<i> Apionsoma (Apionsoma) misakianum </i>(Sipuncula: Phascolosomatidae), a new species for the Mediterranean fauna

“…The phylum Sipuncula comprises a total of 31 species in the western Mediterreanean, 25 species from the eastern Mediterranean and 33 species in the whole Mediterranean basin (PancucciPapadopoulou et al, 1999;Açik et al, 2005). The first record of Sipuncula from the Turkish coasts was given by Ostroumoff (1896), who found Nephasoma (Nephasoma) diaphanes diaphanes (Gerould, 1913) (as Petalastoma minutum Keferstein, 1863) at 45-77 m depth in the Sea of Marmara.…”