The species composition and distribution of ostracods (Crustacea,Ostracoda) in rockpools on islands in the Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea

A total of 15 species of ostracods of 7 genera and 3 families of the suborder Podocopa Sars have been recorded in rockpools of the Kandalaksha Bay in the White Sea. Among them, Potamocypris pallida Alm is a new species for the fauna of Russia. Data on species composition and the dominant complex and ecological features of ostracods which inhabit waters of rockpools are presented.     

Middle Permian ostracod fauna from the Khao Khad Formation (Indochina Terrane), Central Thailand

Permian ostracods are reported for the first time from the Wordian (Middle Permian) Khao Khad Formation of Saraburi Group (Lopburi Province, Central Thailand). The ostracod fauna consists of 18 species belonging to 11 genera including Bairdia, Bohlenatia, Liuzhinia, Silenites, Acratia, Bairdiacypris, Basslerella, Aurigerites, Microcheilinella, Paraparchites and Shemonaella. The studied Khao Khad Limestone, which are rich in fusulinids, gastropods, ostracods, bivalves and brachiopods, was deposited in a shallow carbonate platform on the western margin of the Indochina Terrane. The ostracod assemblage is typically Palaeo-Tethyan and similar to faunas from the other Lower to Middle Permian limestones in central Thailand.     

Analysis of bacterial communities in sponges and coral inhabiting Red Sea,using barcoded 454 pyrosequencing

Microbial communities are linked with marine sponge are diverse in their structure and function. Our understanding of the sponge-associated microbial diversity is limited especially from Red Sea in Saudi Arabia where few species of sponges have been studied. Here we used pyrosequencing to study two marine sponges and coral species sampled from Obhur region from Red sea in Jeddah. A total of 168 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified from Haliclona caerulea, Stylissa carteri and Rhytisma fulvum. Taxonomic identification of tag sequences of 16S ribosomal RNA revealed 6 different bacterial phyla and 9 different classes. A proportion of unclassified reads were was also observed in sponges and coral sample. We found diverse bacterial communities associated with two sponges and a coral sample. Diversity and richness estimates based on OUTs revealed that sponge H. caerulea had significantly high bacterial diversity. The identified OTUs showed unique clustering in three sponge samples as revealed by Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA). Proteobacteria (88–95%) was dominant phyla alonwith Bacteroidetes, Planctomycetes, Cyanobacteria, Firmicutes and Nitrospirae. Seventeen different genera were identified where genus Pseudoalteromonas was dominant in all three samples. This is first study to assess bacterial communities of sponge and coral sample that have never been studied before to unravel their microbial communities using 454-pyrosequencing method.     

Vertical mesozooplankton abundance and distribution in the deep Eastern Mediterranean Sea SE of Crete

Mesozooplankton from the Levantine Basin, Eastern Mediterranean,were analysed for composition and vertical distribution fromthe surface to 4000 m, with special emphasis on calanoid copepods.Copepods were dominant, ostracods and chaetognaths ranked next.Zooplankton abundance and biomass were highest in the top 100m layer. A secondary concentration maximum was between 450 and750 m. The exponential decrease of zooplankton with depth wasstronger than in the open ocean, but less strong than in theRed Sea. Similarly to the Red Sea, three genera among calanoidcopepods were predominant in the deep sea. As with the WesternMediterranean, but different from the Red Sea, populations ofmesopelagic and one bathypelagic species were found to occurwell below 1250 m to depths of at least 3000 m. Similarly toboth seas, long-range vertical migrators were rare, those presentmainly belonging to the genus Pleuromamma, and diel migrationswere restricted to the upper 600 or 1000 m. Due to the hightemperatures in the deep water bodies of the Levantine and RedSeas, the decomposition of sedimentary particles is assumedto be accelerated. This prevents much detritus from reachingthe sea floor which may explain the anomalous low abundancesof deep-sea zooplankton and benthos. Though the similaritiesto the Red Sea seem to be strong, the Levantine Sea is likelyto hold an intermediate position between the open ocean andthe Western Mediterranean on one side and the Red Sea on theother side.     

Geographical and ecological distribution of marine halacarid genera and species (Acari: Halacaridae)

At the end of 2002, the number of marine halacarid species was 1018, that of genera 51. A single genus, Copidognathus contains 33% of all species (336). Eleven genera are monotypic. Geographical provinces with a large number of species are the tropical western Pacific, temperate northeastern Atlantic, temperate southeastern Pacific, and Mediterranean-Black Sea. Most records of halacarid species are from temperate and tropical areas; 10% of species are known from polar zones. On a generic level, 29 genera are recorded from tropical and temperate but not from polar provinces, five genera are restricted to the tropics, and none to polar regions. The majority (920 species or 90%) of all species live in the upper 200 m. Records of genera with exclusively algivorous or brackish/fresh water species are bound to littoral habitats; all the other genera occur in more than one depth zone. Arenicolous genera, though most abundant in the littoral zone, have representatives in the bathyal. Four marine genera (Copidognathus, Halacarellus, Isobactrus, Lohmannella) have representatives in coastal fresh water, and three genera, Acarothrix, Caspihalacarus and Peregrinacarus, are predominantly inhabitants of diluted brackish and fresh water. None of the free-living halacarid genera of the world's oceans appears to be endemic to one geographical province.     

Seagrasses in the Zeit Bay area and at Ras Ghârib (Egyptian Red Sea coast)

The distribution and ecology of seagrasses along parts of the Egyptian Red Sea coasts have been investigated. Five of the 10 species ever reported from the Red Sea have been found in this area, i.e. Halodule uninervis (Forssk.) Aschers., Thalassodendron ciliatum (Forssk.) den Hartog, Halophila stipulacea (Forssk.) Aschers., Halophila ovalis (R. Br.) Hook. f. and Halophila ovata Gaud. H. ovata is recorded here for the first time for the west coast of the Red Sea. The finding of Halophila decipiens Ostenfeld represents a new record to the Red Sea; this species has been found at a depth of 30 m, near Ras Ghârib in the Gulf of Suez.     

Sub-Decadal Resolution in Sediments of Late Miocene Lake Pannon Reveals Speciation of Cyprideis (Crustacea,Ostracoda)

Late Miocene "Lake Pannon" (~11.3 Ma) was a remnant of the Central Paratethyan Sea. Successive freshening and constantly changing environmental conditions, like oxygenation, nutrition and substrate led to a well-documented radiation in molluscs and ostracods. Among ostracods (small crustaceans), Cyprideis is one of the most common genera in "Lake Pannon", as well as in several other ancient lakes, showing numerous adaptations and speciations. Here, we present high-resolution data from an early transgression of "Lake Pannon" in the Eastern Styrian Basin (SE Austria). Mataschen clay pit is in the focus of geologic and paleontologic research since 20 years and its geologic and paleoecologic evolution is well-documented. We drilled five cores covering a ~2.3 m long section and completely sampled it in 5-mm thick intervals to reconstruct minute changes in the ostracod fauna over a transgression of a brackish water body. The dominant genus, Cyprideis, is represented by three species C. mataschensis, C. kapfensteinensis and C. ex gr. pannonica. Through morphometric analyses we highlight the variance of each taxon and suggest that there is no direct ecologic control on size or shape. Furthermore, we found a second, co-occurring morphotype of C. kapfensteinensis which is directly related to an elevation of salinities above 13 psu. The presence of two intermediate specimens between the two morphotypes in the sample directly below the first appearance of C. kapfensteinensis B leads us to the conclusion that we are facing a speciation event leading to four sympatric species of Cyprideis.     

The formation of the Lycodinae fauna (Perciformes: Zoarcidae) of the Sea of Japan

The subfamily Lycodinae is represented in the Sea of Japan by two genera (Lycodes and Petroschmidtia) and seven species (Lycodes japonicus, L. nakamurae, L. raridens, L. tanakae, L. teraoi, L. yamatoi, and Petroschmidtia toyamensis), which are widely distributed on the shelf and upper continental slope. Based on the geographic and bathymetric distribution of eelpouts of the Sea of Japan and adjacent waters, two groups of closely related species with different types of distribution ranges were distinguished. The first group includes pairs of species that live primarily on the continental slope and are completely isolated in the Sea of Japan or in the Sea of Okhotsk. The second group is comprised of upper interzonal species of the Sea of Japan that are found on the continental slope and shelf, as well as in the southern Sea of Okhotsk from Terpeniya Bay to the southern Kuril Islands. Their related species in the Sea of Okhotsk are mostly found to the north of the Terpeniya Bay. The study of the eelpout distribution and the data on the geological history and paleoclimate of the Far East show that the Lycodinae fauna of the Sea of Japan was formed from North Pacific eelpout-like fishes during the isolation of the sea in the late Pliocene-early Pleistocene, which was concomitant with the general cooling of the Earth’s climate. During the Pleistocene interglacials, the eelpout migrations were unidirectional, from the Sea of Japan to the southern Sea of Okhotsk. The reconstruction of the formation of the Sea of Japan Lycodinae fauna suggests that the related taxa from the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk are separate species, while the northern and southern forms of species from the Sea of Japan (Lycodes yamatoi and L. teraoi) are no more than subspecies.     

Differential Growth Response of Colony-Forming α- and γ-Proteobacteria in Dilution Culture and Nutrient Addition Experiments from Lake Kinneret (Israel), the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, and the Gulf of Eilat

Even though it is widely accepted that bacterioplankton growth in lakes and marine ecosystems is determined by the trophic status of the systems, knowledge of the relationship between nutrient concentrations and growth of particular bacterial species is almost nonexistent. To address this question, we performed a series of culture experiments with water from Lake Kinneret (Israel), the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and the Gulf of Eilat (northern Red Sea). In the initial water samples, the proportion of CFU was typically <0.002% of the 4′,6′-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) counts. During incubation until the early stationary phase, the proportion of CFU increased to 20% of the DAPI counts and to 2 to 15% of the DAPI counts in unenriched lake water and seawater dilution cultures, respectively. Sequencing of the 16S ribosomal DNA of colony-forming bacteria in these cultures consistently revealed an abundance of α-proteobacteria, but notable phylogenetic differences were found at the genus level. Marine dilution cultures were dominated by bacteria in the Roseobacter clade, while lake dilution cultures were dominated by bacteria affiliated with the genera Sphingomonas and Caulobacter. In nutrient (glucose, ammonium, phosphate) addition experiments the CFU comprised 20 to 83% of the newly grown cells. In these incubation experiments fast-growing γ-proteobacteria dominated; in the marine experiments primarily different Vibrio and Alteromonas species appeared, while in the lake water experiments species of the genera Shewanella, Aeromonas, and Rheinheimera grew. These results suggest that major, but different, γ-proteobacterial genera in both freshwater and marine environments have a preference for elevated concentrations of nutrients and easily assimilated organic carbon sources but are selectively outcompeted by α-proteobacteria in the presence of low nutrient concentrations.     

Untersuchungen zur Zoogeographie der Euphausiaceen (Crustacea) des Roten Meeres

A joint programme on “Biota of the Red Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean” has been carried out by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Smithsonian Institution of Washington between 1967 and 1972 in order to study the role played by the Suez Canal as a route for faunal exchanges between the Red Sea and Eastern Mediterranean. The euphausiids of this material have been examined and additional samples of zooplankton have been taken in the Gulf of Elat (Aqaba) in 1973 in order to study the vertical distribution of the euphausiids. Four species have been found to occur in the Northern Red Sea and the Gulf of Elat:Euphausia diomedeae, E. sanzoi, Stylocheiron affine andS. abbreviatum. Seven species were found in the Eastern Mediterranean of whichEuphausia brevis is the dominant species. The present studies revealed that an exchange of Euphausiacea through the Suez Canal does not take place. The species of the Red Sea belong to the Indopacific fauna. Despite the particular historic-geographical and ecological situation of the Red Sea, no endemisms or subspecies have evolved there within the Euphausiacea.     

Palaeozoic roots of the sigilliid ostracods

Podocopine ostracods rapidly increased in species diversity after the Palaeozoic, and 32 out of the 36 podocopine families are extant (Whatley et al., 1993), but the phyletic origins are known for only a few. The Sigilliacea are unique in having a long and detailed fossil record. The Sigilliidae known from the recent and Mesozoic faunas differ from others ostracods in having large adductor muscle scars with many spots, a character typical rather to Palaeozoic forms. Paleozoic Microcheilinellidae were morphologically close to the sigilliids, but details of their hingement and carapace margin structures were unknown until now.Silicified specimens of Microcheilinella mendelgrammi, new species, from the Early Carboniferous of southern China and Microcheilinella mandelstami, from the Middle Devonian of north-western Poland show merodont hingement and narrow calcified inner lamella. This makes their relationship to the Mesozoic, Tertiary, and recent sigilliids Saipanetta, Cardobairdia, Sigillium, and Kasella likely. The sigilliid lineage was thus established already in the Devonian.Tubulibairdia, with adont hingement and tubulous shell wall, and Microcheilinella s. s., with merodont hingement and no tubules, are distinct genera in different families.     

The Taxonomy and Phylogeny of Echinometra (Camarodonta: Echinometridae) from the Red Sea and Western Indian Ocean

The number of valid species in the genus Echinometra (Echinodermata, Echinoidea) and their associated identification keys have been debated in the scientific literature for more than 180 years. As the phylogeny and dispersal patterns of these species have been widely used as a prominent model for marine speciation, new insights into their taxonomy have the potential to deepen our understanding of marine speciation processes. In this study we examine Echinometra taxonomy, combining morphology and molecular tools. We present the taxonomy and phylogeny of Red Sea and Western Indian Ocean Echinometra. The currently available morphological keys were found to be limited in their ability to delineate all species within this genus. Nonetheless, morphological similarities between the Red Sea and Western Indian Ocean populations were high, and delimited them from the other species. These latter populations together formed a monophyletic clade, genetically distant from any of the other Echinometra species by more than 3%. Combining both traditional taxonomy and molecular evidence, we found that these populations were neither Echinometra mathaei nor E. oblonga, as previously considered. The morphological discrepancies of these populations, and their genetic divergence from the other Echinometra species, suggest that they should be considered as a new Echinometra species.     

Spatial and Species Variations in Bacterial Communities Associated with Corals from the Red Sea as Revealed by Pyrosequencing

Microbial associations with corals are common and are most likely symbiotic, although their diversity and relationships with environmental factors and host species remain unclear. In this study, we adopted a 16S rRNA gene tag-pyrosequencing technique to investigate the bacterial communities associated with three stony Scleractinea and two soft Octocorallia corals from three locations in the Red Sea. Our results revealed highly diverse bacterial communities in the Red Sea corals, with more than 600 ribotypes detected and up to 1,000 species estimated from a single coral species. Altogether, 21 bacterial phyla were recovered from the corals, of which Gammaproteobacteria was the most dominant group, and Chloroflexi, Chlamydiae, and the candidate phylum WS3 were reported in corals for the first time. The associated bacterial communities varied greatly with location, where environmental conditions differed significantly. Corals from disturbed areas appeared to share more similar bacterial communities, but larger variations in community structures were observed between different coral species from pristine waters. Ordination methods identified salinity and depth as the most influential parameters affecting the abundance of Vibrio, Pseudoalteromonas, Serratia, Stenotrophomonas, Pseudomonas, and Achromobacter in the corals. On the other hand, bacteria such as Chloracidobacterium and Endozoicomonas were more sensitive to the coral species, suggesting that the host species type may be influential in the associated bacterial community, as well. The combined influences of the coral host and environmental factors on the associated microbial communities are discussed. This study represents the first comparative study using tag-pyrosequencing technology to investigate the bacterial communities in Red Sea corals.     

Six New Species of Fresh and Brackish Water Ostracods (Crustacea) from Yakushima, Southern Japan

Twelve species of brackish and freshwater ostracods were collected from the island of Yakushima in southern Japan. Six species, belonging to the genera Cypria, Dolerocypris, Stenocypris, Schellencandona and Paracypria, are new and are described herein. The genus Schellencandona is reported for the first time outside Europe. Although a wide range of apparently suitable habitats was sampled for ostracods across the island, all specimens were recovered from or near the coast; further inland yielded no ostracods. The freshwater habitats around the coast of the island consist of springs and rockpools at the top of the shore above most high tide levels.     

Nematode assemblages from the Kandalaksha Depression (White Sea, 251–288 m water depth)

The shallow-water nematodes of the White Sea are relatively well studied; however, information on the nematode fauna inhabiting the deepest part of this sea is very scarce. The composition of the nematode assemblages (at species and genus level) was studied in samples collected during four sampling occasions in the deepest part of the Kandalaksha Depression (the White Sea) in July 1998, October 1998, May 1999, and November 1999. Samples were collected from a depth of 251–288 m with the aid of a multicorer. In total, 59 nematode morphotypes belonging to 37 genera and 18 families were distinguished. The genera Sabatieria and Filipjeva dominated at all stations, followed by Aponema, Desmoscolex, and Quadricoma. The composition of the dominant genera can be considered typical for this depth range in temperate and Arctic waters, although Filipjeva and Aponema were among the dominant genera for the first time. The most abundant species were Sabatieria ornata, Aponema bathyalis, and Filipjeva filipjevi. In general, diversity of the nematode assemblages was lower than in the temperate and Arctic continental shelf and slope with reduced evenness and species richness. The evenness of nematode assemblages and other diversity indices decreased with increasing sediment depth. Based on the valid species and genera recorded, the nematode fauna of the Kandalaksha Depression showed a higher resemblance to that found in the shallow waters of Kandalaksha Bay.     

Late Miocene marine ostracods from Santa Maria island,Azores (NE Atlantic): Systematics,palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography

The nine oceanic islands that comprise the Azores archipelago are located in the middle of the northern Atlantic Ocean. In this isolated archipelago, there is a rich fossil record in one of the islands, Santa Maria. In this island, samples were collected in the Upper Miocene composite section of Malbusca outcrop, located in the southern shore of the island, and the fossil marine Ostracoda were studied. This work represents the first report of fossil ostracods from the Azores archipelago. Thirteen species were found, representing seven families and 12 genera (Xestoleberis, Loxoconcha, Callistocythere, Leptocythere, Dameriacella, Aurila, Heliocythere, Pachycaudites, Neonesidea, Cyamocytheridea, ?Quadracythere and Paracypris). Among the identified species, one new species, Leptocythere azorica n. sp., is described. Loxoconcha (two species) was the most diversified genus. The collected species are mainly ornamented and typical of warm waters and epi-neritic habitats (～ 10–50 m of depth).     

Middle Permian Ostracods from Tak Fa Limestone, Phetchabun Province, Central Thailand

This paper presents the first Permian ostracod fauna discovered in Thailand. The ostracods are recovered from the Tak Fa Limestone (Middle Permian) in Phetchabun province, central Thailand. The ostracods belong to eight genera and 15 species. Four species are newly described: Sargentina phetchabunensis nov. sp., Geffenina bungsamphanensis nov. sp., Reviya subsompongensis nov. sp. and Bairdia takfaensis nov. sp. The ostracod assemblages characterize a shallow marine, near shore environment at the time of deposition. Except for one species, which shows palaeobiogeographical links between Central Thailand and South China, all the other species are endemic.     

rDNA analysis of the Red Sea seagrass,Halophila, reveals vicariant evolutionary diversification

The effects of opening the Suez Canal as a connection between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea were reported for a number of marine species. However, the evolutionary origin of the seagrasses in the Red Sea and the linking population genetics of seagrasses between the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea have not yet been investigated in detail. The invasion of Halophila stipulacea Asch. from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean Sea after the opening of the Suez Canal was already recorded. We hypothesize that Halophila ovalis populations in the Red Sea developed through long-term historical processes such as vicariant evolutionary diversification. Seagrass samples were collected along the Egyptian coastline of the Red Sea and analysed by the molecular marker ITS. The sequences were compared with published ITS sequences from seagrasses collected in the whole area of interest. In this study, we reveal the linking population genetics, phylogeography and phylogenetics of two dominant seagrass species, Halophila stipulacea and Halophila ovalis, among species collected in the Red Sea and worldwide. The results indicate that the Red Sea Halophila ovalis populations do not group to Halophila ovalis worldwide, and Halophila major, Halophila ovalis collected worldwide and Halophila ovalis collected at the Red Sea are sister clades. Hence, vicariant evolutionary diversification for Halophila ovalis may occur in the Red Sea.     

Spatio-Temporal Analyses of Symbiodinium Physiology of the Coral Pocillopora verrucosa along Large-Scale Nutrient and Temperature Gradients in the Red Sea

Algal symbionts (zooxanthellae, genus Symbiodinium) of scleractinian corals respond strongly to temperature, nutrient and light changes. These factors vary greatly along the north-south gradient in the Red Sea and include conditions, which are outside of those typically considered optimal for coral growth. Nevertheless, coral communities thrive throughout the Red Sea, suggesting that zooxanthellae have successfully acclimatized or adapted to the harsh conditions they experience particularly in the south (high temperatures and high nutrient supply). As such, the Red Sea is a region, which may help to better understand how zooxanthellae and their coral hosts successfully acclimatize or adapt to environmental change (e.g. increased temperatures and localized eutrophication). To gain further insight into the physiology of coral symbionts in the Red Sea, we examined the abundance of dominant Symbiodinium types associated with the coral Pocillopora verrucosa, and measured Symbiodinium physiological characteristics (i.e. photosynthetic processes, cell density, pigmentation, and protein composition) along the latitudinal gradient of the Red Sea in summer and winter. Despite the strong environmental gradients from north to south, our results demonstrate that Symbiodinium microadriaticum (type A1) was the predominant species in P. verrucosa along the latitudinal gradient. Furthermore, measured physiological characteristics were found to vary more with prevailing seasonal environmental conditions than with region-specific differences, although the measured environmental parameters displayed much higher spatial than temporal variability. We conclude that our findings might present the result of long-term acclimatization or adaptation of S. microadriaticum to regionally specific conditions within the Red Sea. Of additional note, high nutrients in the South correlated with high zooxanthellae density indicating a compensation for a temperature-driven loss of photosynthetic performance, which may prove promising for the resilience of these corals under increase of temperature increase and eutrophication.