Syrian Benthic Fauna: Studies and Facts

• Izdihar Ammar
• High Inst. of Marine Research, P.O.Pox: 2242, Latakia, Syria.
• Email: i-ammar@scs-net.org
• The Regional Workshop on Marine Sciences & Natural Resources 25-26 May 2004.

Abstract

This is a general review of the studies, which deal with the actual state of Zoobenthic communities along Syrian coast during the period (1992 - 2004), beside the future search plan. The main objectives of these studies are to:

• examine the state of the benthic communities, in order to determine their specific composition, abundance and biomass.
• Assessment of the state of migrant and invasive species.
• determine the seasonal variations of the biological parameters to evaluate the degree of pollution in Syrian coastal ecosystem.
• Determine the level of Petroleum Hydrocarbons (PHC) and its spatial and temporal variation in samples of Bivalvia, Gastropoda, Crabs and Shrimp species as biological indicators.
• Determine the actual concentrations of oil pollutants which effect negatively on certain species of Mollusca and Crustacea. and another study concerned by petroleum hydrocarbons in common Molluscan species and their relation to condition indices.

The samples were collected from the Littoral and sublittoral zones down to depth (200 m) with dive, van - veen grab and dredge. The data compared statistically using univariate and multivariate analysis to detect the environmental changes and biological effects of pollutants in study areas. As well as environmental factors such as temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, conductivity, pH, grain size composition, type of substratum and depth are evaluated during sampling.

A total of 585 species belonging to 16 macrotaxa units were defined. 11 Porifera, 8 Cnidaria, 7 Bryozoa, 6 Sipunculida, 45 Polychaeta, 238 Gastropoda, 136 Bivalvia, 86 Crustacea, 19 Echinodermata, 4 Brachiopoda, 6 Ascidiacea and 19 species belonging to various minor groups. Most of these species belong to the Atlantic and Mediterranean fauna and include 49 Lessepsians and Indopacific species: 21 Gastropoda, 12 Bivalvia, 15 Crustacea and 1 Ascidiacea.

The analysis of samples showed considerable differences in faunal, bionomic, quantities features of the macro population between the sites. All species exhibited significant concentrations of PHC The different PHC burdens in the tissues of organisms was explained by the differences resulting from different feeding habits, trophic levels and habitats.