Mesut Önen

Seasonal dynamics of soft bottom zoobenthic communities in polluted and unpolluted areas of Izmir Bay (Aegean Sea)

The polluted and unpolluted parts of Izmir Bay (Aegean Sea) were sampled seasonally in 1995 and 1996 in order to delineate effects of pollution on the spatial-temporal distributions of soft bottom benthic animals. A total of 298 species, represented by 6014 individuals, belonging to 10 major groups were determined, of which Polychaetes accounted for almost 51% of the total number of species (153 species) and 82% of the total number of individuals (4942 specimens). Crustaceans and molluscs were next dominant after the Polychaeta. By utilising the result of the cluster analysis, four main species assemblages were recognised in the area, each containing different dominant species. The heavily polluted inner bay, which was mainly dominated by the opportunistic polychaetes,Capitella capitata, Polydora spp. andOphiodromus pallidus, reached azoic conditions in summer and autumn. As the results of the present study compare with those of previous studies held in the bay, it can be concluded that pollution in the bay tends to increase and adversely affects distributions of zoobenthic animals particularly in the inner part of Izmir Bay.

First record of the Indo-Pacific species Electroma vexillum (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Pterioida) in the eastern Mediterranean

Iskenderun Bay (north-west Levantine Sea) is intensely industrialized but it is oil pollution that affects most of the coastal and marine ecosystems in the area. Molluscan species diversity in the bay is changing rapidly over the last decades due to the introduction of non-indigenous species of Indo-Pacific origin. To date, 67 of the 181 recorded molluscan species are aliens (37%), a percentage by far higher than anywhere reported. A population of the bivalve Electroma vexillum , whose original distribution is the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, was encountered and recorded for the first time in 2002 in the discharge canals of the Iskenderun Iron and Steel Factory. The distribution of E. vexillum was very restricted in the canal, presumably limited by the temperature (23–36°C). Its occurrence is attributed to shipping.

Polyplacophora (Mollusca) from the Aegean coast of Turkey

Abstract This study has been conducted in order to determine the Polyplacophoran species occurring along the Aegean coasts of Turkey. As a result of collecting carried out in different habitats at 21 selected locations, 11 species were identified: Lepidopleurus cajetanus, L. scabridus, Ischnochiton rissoi, Callochiton septemvalvis euplaeae, Lepidochitona cinerea, L. corrugata, L. monterosatoi, Chiton corallinus, Ch. olivaceus, Acanthochitona crinita, and A. fascicularis. Of these species, Lepidopleurus scabridus is reported for the first time from Turkey, and Chiton corallinus is new for the Aegean fauna of Turkey.

On the presence of Pandora inaequivalvis (Bivalvia: Pandoridae) on the Levantine coast of Turkey

In a benthic study conducted in Iskenderun Bay, Turkey, in July 2007, the pandorid bivalve Pandora inaequivalvis was encountered at four stations having depths of 1.5–7.5 metres and muddy sand bottoms. This is the first record of this species for the Turkish part of the Levantine Sea.