Cumacean assemblages on the Levantine shelf (Mediterranean Sea) – spatiotemporal trends between 2005 and 2012

ABSTRACT

Cumacea (Crustacea, Peracarida) are an important component of soft-bottom macrofauna. Their assemblages are influenced by environmental parameters, including the presence of alien species. Cumacean assemblages from 443 samples collected between 2005 and 2012, at 148 sites along the Israeli Mediterranean coast were analysed. In all, the 31,508 cumaceans were identified to 18 species. Three of the species, Eocuma rosae, E. sarsii and Scherocumella gurneyi, are considered alien for the Mediterranean Sea. Pseudocuma longicorne, S. gurneyi and Cumopsis goodsir were the most abundant species in our samples. Cumacean densities were significantly higher in spring than in autumn, except on the shelf, where the opposite was observed. At the deeper sites (55–63 m) species composition changed between seasons, suggesting a migration of some shallow-bottom dwellers (P. longicorne, Iphinoe spp.) into deeper waters in wintertime. Comparison among years revealed great differences in density, especially in P. longicorne, which experienced an outbreak in 2009. Although seasonal changes may be explained by the natural dynamics of the species' life cycles, inter-annual variability is more difficult to explain. It may be related to environmental changes and especially to the infralittoral hypernutrification along the southern Israeli coast, causing an increase in food availability. Cumacean alien species occurred only in Haifa Bay.

RESPONSIBLE EDITOR:

• Alf Josefson

KEYWORDS:

• Cumacea
• shallow shelf
• soft bottoms
• alien species
• Eastern Mediterranean

ORCID

Jordi Corbera http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3583-3929

Bella S. Galil http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9268-7211

Additional information

Funding

This research was partly supported by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme Towards COast to COast NETworks of Marine Protected Areas (from the shore to the high and deep sea), coupled with sea-based wind energy potential (CoCoNet, grant no. 287844) (BSG).