Assemblages of peracarid crustaceans in subtidal sediments from the Ría de Aldán (Galicia,NW Spain)

Peracarid crustaceans inhabit many marine benthic habitats and are good indicators of environmental conditions. There is, however, a lack of information about diversity and distribution of peracarid crustaceans on the shallow subtidal sediments of the Galician rias. In the summer of 1997, 27 subtidal stations were sampled in the Ría de Aldán, a ria on the southern margin of the mouth of the Ría de Pontevedra (Galicia, NW Spain). A total of 16,191 peracarid individuals were collected, comprising 125 species belonging to five orders. Amphipods were dominant in number of species and individuals, followed by isopods and cumaceans. Multivariate analyses of these data indicated that depth and sediment granulometry were major determinants of distribution and composition of peracarid assemblages in the ria.