Taxonomic, Ecological and Historical Considerations on the Deep-Water Benthic Mollusc Fauna of the Red Sea

A baseline quantitative assessment of deep-sea benthic fauna of the Gulf of Aqaba (Northern Saudi Arabia, Red Sea)

The Gulf of Aqaba (hereafter 'the Gulf') is a narrow, semi-enclosed, warm, high saline, and oligotrophic water body. This baseline study provides the first quantitative data on deep-sea (207-1281 m depth) benthos of the Gulf. Fifty-five benthic species (predominantly polychaetes) with a density of 160-670 ind. m^-2, species richness of 11-25, and Shannon-Wiener diversity (H') of 3.14-4.17 bits. ind.^-1 were recorded from nine stations. The density and H' of benthos of the Gulf are comparable with those of the Red Sea, while both are lower than those reported from the Arabian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The good-high ecological status of benthic communities indicates the absence of major stress in the deep-sea habitats of the Gulf. As large-scale urbanization is proposed in the Saudi coastal areas of the Gulf, this study is expected to provide a baseline dataset for future environmental impact assessments.

An illustrated catalogue of Rudolf Sturany’s type specimens in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Austria (NHMW): Red Sea bivalves

Rudolf Sturany, the curator of molluscs of the Natural History Museum of Vienna between the late 19th and early 20th century described 21 species of bivalves from the Red Sea collected by the pioneering expeditions of the vessel “Pola” which took place between 1895 and 1898. We here list and illustrate the type material of these species, provide the original descriptions, a translation into English, and curatorial and taxonomic comments. All species are illustrated in colour and with SEM imaging. To stabilize the nomenclature, we designate lectotypes for Gastrochaena weinkauffi, Cuspidaria brachyrhynchus, and C. dissociata, whose type series contained specimens belonging to other species. This paper concludes the series on the type specimens of marine molluscs described by Sturany from the “Pola” expeditions.