Abstract
Six nephtyid species were identified from samples collected off the west coast of Saudi Arabia. Two of these species had been previously reported for the Red Sea (Inermonephtys aff. inermis, Nephtys palatii), three are new records (Aglaophamus lobatus, A. cf. verrilli, Micronephthys stammeri) and one is new to science (Inermonephtys aramco). Inermonephtys aramco was collected in the southern region of the Red Sea at depths between 60 and 83 m. It is characterized by the presence of branchiae from chaetiger 15 or 16, well-developed parapodial prechaetal lamellae, broadly rounded notopodial postchaetal lamellae and rudimentary neuropodial postchaetal lamellae. The species Nephtys palatii is transferred to the genus Micronephthys. Based on the current finding, the previously known bathymetric range of Micronephthys stammeri is extended from 4–7 to 17 m, and occurrence depths for N. palatii are given for the first time (4–90 m). Full descriptions are included for all species except M. stammeri. An identification key for all the species known to occur in the Red Sea is provided.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 843-856 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom |
| Volume | 97 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 10 2017 |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the crew of the RV ‘Thuwal’ and the staff of the Coastal and Marine Resources Core Lab, namely Abdulaziz Al-Suwailem, David Pallett, Francis Mallon, Haitham Aljahdali, Ioannis Georgakakis, Ramzi S. Aljahdali and Zenon Batang for their support before, during and after the scientific cruises. We are also grateful to our colleagues Holger Anlauf, Zahra AlSaffar, Saskia Kürten, Richard Payumo and Amr Gusti for their help during field and laboratory work. Ute Langner prepared the maps presented in the paper. In one of the expeditions to the southern Red Sea, the help of 10 students from the Reed Ecology class (2014) was invaluable to accomplish our goals. We also thank the very useful suggestions of the two anonymous reviewers that greatly improved the manuscript. This study has resulted from collaboration between KAUST and Saudi Aramco within the framework of the Saudi Aramco-KAUST Center for Marine Environmental Observations. The first author was supported by FCT co-financed by ESF and MEC (SFRH/BPD/112408/2015) and by CESAM with funds from FCT/MEC co-financed by the FEDER within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020 (UID/AMB/50017).