scholarly journals Taxonomy and Ecology of Sympatric Ampelisca Species (Crustacea, Amphipoda) From the Strait of Gibraltar to the Strait of Dover, North-Eastern Atlantic

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Claude Dauvin ◽  
Leandro Sampaio ◽  
Ana Maria Rodrigues ◽  
Victor Quintino

The Ampeliscidae Kröyer, 1842 is amongst the most diverse amphipod families; it comprises four genera, Ampelisca being the richest with more than 200 species. The Ampelisca genus presents high morphological homogeneity and the identification of the species by ecologists remains difficult. Ampelisca are also characterized by a high degree of sympatry, a rare situation in amphipods, and in this study we report up to nine species coexisting at the same site. Recent benthic sampling and publications, namely on the Portuguese continental shelf and the English Channel, permit to revisit the available data on the taxonomy and propose an updated species identification key, as well as the distribution and ecology of the 40-recorded Ampelisca species along the North Eastern Atlantic coast, from the Strait of Gibraltar, in the South, to the Strait of Dover, in the North. The data allow discussing on the sympatry and syntopy of such diverse amphipod family with the co-occurrence of several species at various scales of observations, from the wider regional area, to the narrower local habitat. Two Ampelisca species were recorded exclusively on hard bottom, while the other tend to inhabit specific types of soft bottom, ranging from deep mud to shallow coarse sand and gravel, with a preference for continental shelf muddy and sandy habitats. A future sea water temperature increase scenario could modify the species geographical distribution and reproductive cycle, in this temperate North-eastern Atlantic province.

Author(s):  
Jean-Claude Dauvin ◽  
Denise Bellan-Santini

The genus Ampelisca comprises more than 150 species and is one of the more important benthic genus of marine amphipods. New species are regularly added (Barnard & Agard 1986; Bellan-Santini & Marques, 1986; Goeke, 1987). Ampelisca are found from the intertidal zone to abyssal depths but most of them live on the continental shelf. In spite of many studies, it is often difficult to distinguish some species which are morphologically similar. In the last ten years, twenty-two species have been described from the north-eastern Atlantic (BellanSantini & Kaïm-Malka, 1977; Bellan-Santini & Dauvin, 1981, 1986; Dauvin & Bellan-Santini, 1982, 1985; Bellan-Santini & Marques, 1986). Materials come from MNHN of Paris collection, collected by Chevreux (1894–1924) (Dauvin & Bellan-Santini, 1985, 1986) and specimens collected during the last 25 years. All these new species are described from the Atlantic coast from northern Brittany to the Sahara and from the Mediterranean Sea.


Author(s):  
Humberto F. M. Fortunato ◽  
Thierry Pérez ◽  
Gisele Lôbo-Hajdu

AbstractThe Order Suberitida is defined as a group of marine sponges without an obvious cortex, a skeleton devoid of microscleres, and with a deletion of a small loop of 15 base pairs in the secondary structure of the 28S rDNA as a molecular synapomorphy. Suberitida comprises three families and 26 genera distributed worldwide, but mostly in temperate and polar waters. Twenty species were reported along the entire Brazilian coast, and although the north-eastern coast of Brazil seems to harbour a rich sponge fauna, our current knowledge is concentrated along the south-eastern Atlantic coast. A survey was implemented along the northern coast of Brazil, and the collection allowed the identification of six species belonging to the Order Suberitida. Two of them are considered new to science: Suberites purpura sp. nov., Hymeniacidon upaonassu sp. nov., and four, Halichondria (Halichondria) marianae Santos, Nascimento & Pinheiro, 2018, Halichondria (H.) melanadocia de Laubenfels, 1936, Suberites aurantiacus (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864), and Terpios fugax Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864, are re-described. Taxonomic comparisons are made for Tropical Western Atlantic species and type species of the four genera. Finally, an identification key for the Western Atlantic Suberites species is provided.


Author(s):  
O. Podymov ◽  
O. Podymov ◽  
N. Kuzevanova ◽  
N. Kuzevanova ◽  
A. Khvorosch ◽  
...  

The work demonstrates the results of the 6-years complex ship-borne monitoring of coastal zone in the north-eastern part of the Black Sea, carried out by the Southern Branch of P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, RAS, on a marine cross-section at the Blue Bay (Gelendzhik) beam 1-2 times per month. Climatic changes and eutrophication exert a significant impact on the sea water at the coastal area. In case of the Black Sea these factors pile up with a permanent hydrogen sulphide contamination of the sea water below 80-200 meters depth (depending on the season and distance from the shore). Strong pycno-halocline at the depths from 70 to 160 meters, formed due to the inflow of high salinity water from the Marmara Sea, inhibits the mixing between the water layers and, as a result, also limits the oxygen transport into the deeper layers. The winter cooling reduces the pycno-halocline and enriches the top active layer, down to the cold intermediate layer (CIL), with oxygen and nutrients, which subsequently lead to a vernal phytoplankton bloom. Formation of the thermocline and upper quasi-homogeneous layer (UQL), caused by the water warming in spring, at large extent determines a thickness of phytoplankton-rich layer during the spring and summer seasons. The work demonstrates seasonal and interannual dynamics of the UQL, thermocline, CIL and hydrogen sulphide boundary position in the coastal zone of the north-eastern part of the Black Sea.


Author(s):  
Silja E. Swaby ◽  
Geoffrey W. Potts ◽  
Alwyne Wheeler

The capture of the short-beaked garfish,Belone svetovidovi Collette & Parin 1970, off the Cornish coast is of particular interest in that it represents an easterly extension to the known range of this species in the eastern North Atlantic, and the first record in British waters.In August 1990 seven garfish were angled, on mackerel bait, in Mount's Bay, Cornwall. The captor, Mr A.C. Cass, believing the garfish to be different from the common garfish,Belone belone (L.), sent the largest one to the laboratory of the Marine Biological Association for identification. The specimen was provisionally identified as the short-beaked garfish B. svetovidovi and later verified by one of us (A.W.). The other six specimens were not available for examination.Garfish, sometimes called needlefishes, have elongated bodies. Both upper and lower jaws are long and beak-like, with sharp teeth. They are epipelagic, feeding near the surface and are often observed leaping and skittering over the surface of the water. Only two species are recorded in the genus Belone in the north-eastern Atlantic.Belone belone (including subspecies) is commonly found off the European Atlantic coast as far north as Trondheim, Norway. It is also found in the North Sea, the southern Baltic seas, the Mediterranean and Black Sea where it is commercially exploited (Collette & Parin, 1986).Belone svetovidovi has only recently been distinguished from B. belone, and consequently its abundance and distribution are less well known. It was first identified in northern European waters by Dorman (1984,1987) from southern Ireland.


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