Spatio-temporal distribution of soft-bottom epibenthic fauna on the Cilician shelf (Turkey), Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

Spatio-temporal distribution of epifauna collected with a sledge was studied on the Cilician shelf of the Mediterranean Sea. There were two different communities: the shallow community was restricted to water at 5 and 10 m deep with sandy bottom inhabited abundantly by Conomurex persicus, Arnoglossus laterna and Murex trunculus. Conomurex persicus, an introduced tropical species predominated the shallow zone and distinguished it from the deep zone. The deep community (25-150 m) lacked shallow water species and was dominated by Arnoglossus laterna, Goneplax rhomboides and Parapenaeus longirostris. Seasonality was not a major factor in the epibenthic community structure of the entire shelf, but it is in the shallow waters. Bottom depth was main factor for structuring the community on the shelf. Sediment size and organic content is also a controlling factor for the distribution of the epibenthic fauna. Rev. Biol. Trop. 56 (4): 1919-1946. Epub 2008

Spatial and temporal variation of soft-bottom peracarid (Crustacea: Peracarida) infauna in the Canakkale Strait (Turkey)

“…Depth and substrate are the most important factors influencing the structure of the benthic fauna (MUTLU & ERGEV, 2008), and it is well known that meiofauna and macrofauna abundance decrease with increasing depth in the eastern Mediterranean (TSELEPIDES et al, 2000;KRÖNCKE et al, 2003). According to SCIPIONE et al (2005) the number of crustacean species, individuals and diversity (H') diminish towards depth, while evenness (J) increases.…”

Distribution of littoral benthic amphipods off the Levantine coast of Turkey with new records

“…In addition, the alien species Elasmopus pectenicrus was reported from the Levantine coast of Turkey by . Mutlu and Ergev (2008) reported Corophium affine (Bruzelius, 1859) in a study conducted in Mersin Bay, but this species was not specified as a new record in the paper. The natural distribution area of Corophium affine is the coasts of England and the North Sea (Lincoln, 1979), and according to Bellan-Santini and Ruffo (2003), there was no record of this species in the Mediterranean Sea.…”

“…In recent years, Turkish amphipod fauna has been characterized in detail as a result of the increase of studies on marine assemblages in Turkish seas, but studies of the Levantine coast are still lacking (Kocataş and Katağan, 1978;Yurdabak, 2004;Bakır et al, 2007;Çınar et al, 2008;Mutlu and Ergev, 2008;Aslan-Cihangir et al, 2009;Karacuha et al, 2009;Aslan-Cihangir and Pancucci-Papadopoulou, 2011;Bakır et al, 2011).…”

Untitled

“…Moreover, Ostroumoff (1896) investigated plankton and benthos during the Selanik Expedition to the Sea of Marmara after the invitation of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamit II and he determined 17 tunicate species belonging to class Ascidiacea and one species belonging to class Thaliacea. Afterwards, ascidians have been documented in different studies from the Turkish coasts (Demir, 1952;Demir, 1954aDemir, , 1954bNalbantoğlu, 1955;Băcescu, 1961;Kiseleva, 1961;Ergen, 1967;Kiseleva, 1969;Geldiay & Kocataş, 1972;Gökalp, 1972;Pınar, 1974;Uysal;1976, Kocataş;1978;Mavili, 1987;Ergen, Kocataş, Katağan, & Cınar, 1994; Sinem Aydin-Onen Koçak & Küçüksezgin, 2000;Tarkan, 2000;Dinçaslan & Öber, 2004;Öztürk et al, 2004;Aslan, 2006;Çinar, Bilecenoglu, Öztürk, & Can, 2006a;Çinar et al, 2006b;Lakkis & Toklu, 2007;Okuş et al, 2007;Çinar et al, 2008;Mutlu & Ergev, 2008;Çınar et al, 2011;Aslan-Cihangir, Izquierdo-Muñoz, Pancucci-Papadopoulou, & Can-Yılmaz, 2011;Gözcelioğlu, 2011;Ramos-Espla, Izquierdo, & Çınar, 2013;Artüz, Sönmez, & Kubanç, 2014).…”