Additional records of the alien gastropod, Ergalatax junionae Houart, 2008 (Gastropoda: Muricidae), from the eastern Mediterranean

The alien muricid gastropod Ergalatax junionae Houart, 2008 has been known to inhabit the shallow waters of the eastern Mediterranean. The chronology of its recorded observations, beginning in eastern Turkey and proceeding to the south and west, suggests that it was first introduced to eastern Turkey via shipping, and was then spread in the Levantine Sea. The recent record from Greece indicates that its range of distribution is still expanding. Here we report local population densities and additional records of E. junionae from the eastern Mediterranean basin, including its first occurrence from the Turkish coastof the Aegean Sea

On the Occurrence and Established Populations of the Alien Polychaete Polydora cornuta Bosc, 1802 (Polychaeta: Spionidae) in the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus Strait (Turkey)

The present paper reports the first occurrence of Polydora cornuta in the Bosphorus Strait and its finding in a new locality in the Sea of Marmara, providing a link with its Aegean and Black Sea populations. The probable vector for the introduction of P. cornuta into the Sea of Marmara is shipping through the Dardanelles Strait. Both soft and hard-bottom populations were examined and the importance and prevalence of this species within the native macrozoobenthic communities were elucidated. Its abundance ranged between 40 and 3390 ind.m-2 (mean:1320 ±1199.45 SD) and its percent contribution to the total faunal populations ranged between 3.31 and 75.56 (mean:27.79 ±25.00 SD) in the Sea of Marmara softbottom community. During the sampling period, P. cornuta contributed little to the total faunal abundance of the hard-bottom communities in the Bosphorus Strait. Its mean abundance in the hard substrate ranged between 8.33 and 1000 ind.m-2 (mean:117.36 ±279.73 SD) and its percent contribution to the total faunal populations ranged between 0.02 and 21.86 (mean:2.07 ±6.25 SD). The role of this invasive species in the soft-bottom macrobenthic community at an organically enriched site examined in the Sea of Marmara is highlighted, and a comparison with Aegean Sea populations of the species is also included

Application of the bentix index in assessing ecological quality of hard substrata: a case study from the Bosphorus Strait, Turkey

In this paper, a biotic index (Bentix) has been used for the assessment of ecological quality status of shallow water hard substrate benthic ecosystems affected by coastal sewage discharges in the Bosphorus Strait. A significant difference was observed between the control and the discharge stations with regard to Bentix values (Mann-Whitney U Test, p=0.002) and ecological quality status of the discharge stations was worse than that of controls. The index values revealed that sewage discharges caused serious disturbance in macrozoobenthic communities in the area investigated. Although so far it has been used for soft bottom communities, Bentix (with some species scoring modifications) also appeared to work successfully in hard substrates, at least for the present study

Flabelliderma cinari (Polychaeta: Flabelligeridae), a new species from the Eastern Mediterranean

A new species of flabelligerid polychaete, Flabelliderma cinari, is described from the Turkish coast of the Eastern MediterraneanSea. This represents the first occurrence of the genus Flabelliderma in the Mediterranean. Flabelliderma cinari sp. nov. isclosely allied to F. claparedei in having dorsal tubercles of two different sizes; however, these species differ in the relative shapeand number of dorsal tubercles, the number of capillaries per fascicle in the notopodia and the shape of the curved distal articlesin the neuropodial hooks

Golden Horn Estuary: Description of the ecosystem and an attempt to assess its ecological quality status using various classification metrics

In this paper, we describe the pelagic and benthic ecosystem of the Golden Horn  estuary opening into the Marmara Sea. To improve the water quality of the estuary, which had long been subject to severe anthropogenic pollution (industrial, chemical, shipping),  industrial facilities were moved from the estuary in the 1980s, followed by a rehabilitation plan in the 1990s. Our results, based on chemical parameters and phytoplankton showed some signs of improvement of water conditions in the upper layer. However, macrozoobenthic findings of this study did not reflect such a recovery in bottom life.An approach to the Ecological Quality Status (EQS) assessment was performed by applying the biotic indices BENTIX, AMBI, BOPA, BO2A. Our final assessment was based on 'expert-judgements' and revealed a very disturbed overall ecosystem with 'bad' EQS for the station at the head of the estuary,  'poor' in the rest of the estuary and 'moderate' EQS only in the middle station

On the Occurrence and Established Populations of the Alien Polychaete Polydora cornuta Bosc, 1802 (Polychaeta: Spionidae) in the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus Strait (Turkey)

The present paper reports the first occurrence of Polydora cornuta in the Bosphorus Strait and its finding in a new locality in the Sea of Marmara, providing a link with its Aegean and Black Sea populations. The probable vector for the introduction of P. cornuta into the Sea of Marmara is shipping through the Dardanelles Strait. Both soft and hard-bottom populations were examined and the importance and prevalence of this species within the native macrozoobenthic communities were elucidated. Its abundance ranged between 40 and 3390 ind.m-2 (mean:1320 ±1199.45 SD) and its percent contribution to the total faunal populations ranged between 3.31 and 75.56 (mean:27.79 ±25.00 SD) in the Sea of Marmara softbottom community. During the sampling period, P. cornuta contributed little to the total faunal abundance of the hard-bottom communities in the Bosphorus Strait. Its mean abundance in the hard substrate ranged between 8.33 and 1000 ind.m-2 (mean:117.36 ±279.73 SD) and its percent contribution to the total faunal populations ranged between 0.02 and 21.86 (mean:2.07 ±6.25 SD). The role of this invasive species in the soft-bottom macrobenthic community at an organically enriched site examined in the Sea of Marmara is highlighted, and a comparison with Aegean Sea populations of the species is also included

First report of Pararotalia calcariformata from the Hatay coastline (Turkey - North-eastern Mediterranean)

Alien benthic foraminiferal assemblages of Samandag and Yayladagi coasts (Hatay, Turkey) have been investigated. 41 genera and 58 species of benthic foraminifers were identified and Indo-Pacific originated alien species were found to dominate the foraminiferal assemblage. Pararotalia calcariformata which shows distribution in the western Pacific is recorded for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea. © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2013