Titel
The rhizome layer of Posidonia oceanica: an important habitat for Mediterranean brachiopods
Autor*in
Abstract
Mediterranean brachiopods are elusive organisms to find alive even if the bathymetric range of some species extends to very shallow waters. We here record an abundant population of Joania cordata (Risso, 1826) and Argyrotheca cuneata (Risso, 1826) in the rhizome layer of a Posidonia oceanica (Linné) Delile, 1813 meadow in Plakias, southwestern Crete from 5 to 20 m depth. Altogether, we collected 963 living individuals and 4309 shells by suction sampling; it is the largest collection of living brachiopods in Posidonia meadows ever reported. Although literature records on the occurrence of shallow-water brachiopods in this habitat are few, we claim that Posidonia rhizomes are a particularly suitable infralittoral habitat for these organisms due to their sciaphilous conditions. Suction sampling is an effective technique to collect them and can enable the discovery of many more populations in the Mediterranean Sea.
Stichwort
Joania cordataArgyrotheca cuneataSeagrassSuction samplingCreteEastern Mediterranean Sea
Objekt-Typ
Sprache
Englisch [eng]
Persistent identifier
Erschienen in
Titel
Marine Biodiversity
Band
49
Ausgabe
5
Seitenanfang
2467
Seitenende
2472
Publication
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Erscheinungsdatum
2019
Zugänglichkeit
Rechte
Rechteangabe
© The Author(s) 2019
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