NEREIDID POLYCHAETES COLLECTED BY THE METEOR-25 EXPEDITION IN THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN
Ben-Eliahu, M. N.
The Scientific Collections, The Department of Evolution, Systematics and Ecology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel.
Fifteen of the 39 benthos stations sampled by the METEOR-25 Expedition (May-June, 1993) contained material belonging to the family Nereididae. Ceratocephale loveni MALMGREN, 1867 is a new record for the Mediterranean and for the Levant Basin (off Israel, 298 -1022 m); it is known principally from the northern Atlantic. Perinereis (Arete) tenuisetis FAUVEL, 1915, collected in the Gulf of Taranto (310 m); in the Ionian Sea (3848 m); and off Israel (54 m), is a new record for the Levant Basin. Rullierinereis sp. was likewise collected in the Gulf of Taranto (45, 106 m) and off Israel (54 m) - a new record of the genus for the Levant Basin. Nereis fucata (SAVIGNY, 1820), was collected off Egypt (191-195 m)--this is the first substantiated record from the Levant Basin. The deep limit for Leonnates persica WESENBERG-LUND, 1949 (a Lessepsian migrant), is extended (range 13-153 m). A single Nereis specimen, collected off Israel (36 m), shows characteristics intermediate between N. zonata MALMGREN, 1867 and N. pelagica LINNE 1761. The new records bring the number of nereidid species and genera in the Levant Basin to 27 and 11, respectively. The proportionally large number of new findings is due to the Expedition having sampled comparatively neglected stations (depths).