Perioculodes longimanus (Spence Bate & Westwood, 1868)

Perioculodes longimanus (Spence Bate & Westwood, 1868) View in CoL

This species is widely distributed in the Mediterranean Basin, Black Sea and European waters and is reported in France, Scotland, England, Spain, Italy, Anatolia, Germany, Norway, Algeria, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus, Sweden, Turkey, Romania, Greece, Holland, Tunisia, and Israel ( Falciai and Spadini, 1985; Buhl-Jensen, 1986; Occhipinti-Ambrogi et al., 1988; Dauvin and Gentil, 1990; Buhl-Jensen and Fosså, 1991; Faasse and Stikvoort, 2002; Blanchet et al., 2005; Kirkim et al., 2006; Sezgin and Katağan, 2007; Nickell et al., 2009; Zakhama-Sraieb et al., 2009, 2017; de-la-Ossa-Carretero et al. 2010; Sezgin et al., 2010; Schückel et al., 2011; Carvalho et al., 2012; Navarro-Barranco et al., 2013; Nikitik and Robinson, 2003; Kudrenko et al., 2016; Misic et al., 2016; Belatoui et al., 2017; Maidanou et al., 2017; Ballesteros et al., 2020; Rousou et al., 2020; Mülayim, 2021; Tănase et al., 2022).

Perioculodes longimanus View in CoL is exclusively associated with soft infralittoral substrates and sand sublittoral biocenosis ( Buhl-Jensen and Fosså, 1991, Sezgin and Katağan, 2007; Ballesteros et al., 2020) although it has also been found on deep substrates and bathyal bottom ( Cartes et al, 2007). Due to the close association between this species and sandy substrates, P. longimanus View in CoL is considered an exclusive species of the well calibrate fine sands biocenosis sensu Pérès & Picard (1964) ( Falciai and Spadini, 1985; Niccolai et al., 1993). The bottom types and sands communities in which this species is observed are intertidal sands ( Viéitez and Baz, 1988; Robertson et al., 1989), fine sands ( Lourido et al., 2010), coarser sands ( Parker, 1984), mud, muddy sands and clay ( Kirkim et al., 2006), slightly gravelly sandy mud ( Cruz et al., 2003), sand and mud biodetrital bottom ( Dumitrache et al., 2013), very fine sands with Abra alba View in CoL - Tellina fabula View in CoL communities ( Warwick and Davies, 1977; Dauvin and Gentil, 1990), Venus striatula View in CoL sand communities ( Klein et al., 1975). Furthermore, this oedicerotid is also present in substrates colonized by marine phanerogams and algae such as Posidonia oceanica , Cymodocea nodosa , Zostera marina View in CoL , Z. noltii View in CoL and Caulerpa prolifera ( Sánchez-Jerez et al., 1999; Karaçuha al., 2009; Bakir and Katağan, 2014; Bellisario et al., 2016; Maidanou et al., 2017), and is observed also in association with the communities of shallow hydrothermal vents ( Dando et al., 1995).

Perioculodes longimanus View in CoL can be considered resistant to pollution ( Belatoui et al., 2017) and in fact it was reported in estuarine areas and in other localities characterised by the presence of anthropogenic discharges such as fish farms discharges, oil spill and waste pollution ( Bakalem, 1998; Pearson and Black, 2000; Faasse and Stikvoort, 2002; Nickell et al., 2009; Sánchez-Moyano and García-Asencio, 2010; Dumitrache et al., 2013; Nikitik and Robinson, 2003; de-la Ossa-Carretero et al., 2016); but in this context, it is important to emphasize that de-la-Ossa-Carretero et al. (2012) have pointed out that this species showed high sensitivity to sewage pollution.

This species is considered eurybathic and associated with hyperbenthic communities ( Greze, 1968; Cartes et al., 2009; Koulouri et al., 2013; Navarro-Baranco et al., 2013; Guerra-García et al., 2013). Also, even if P. longimanus View in CoL is common and abundant in shallow waters between 1 and 30 m ( Klein et al., 1975; Dauvin and Gentil, 1990; Buhl-Jensen & Fosså, 1991; Dumitrache et al., 2013; Ballesteros et al., 2020), its bathymetric distribution can be deeper up to about 100 m ( Viéitez and Baz, 1988; Cartes et al., 2009; Koulouri et al., 2013). Probably the high variability of its bathyal distribution range is related to its regular vertical migrations in the water column; in fact, P. longimanus View in CoL performs vertical nocturnal migrations of variable amplitude ( Watkin, 1939b; Sorbe, 1982) and, in some areas, the abundance of this species varies on a daily scale resulting in an increase in its abundance during the night hours ( Bossanyi, 1957).

Although this oedicerotid is not characterised by sexual dimorphism generally the female individuals are larger in size. Beare and Moore (1998) analyzed its sex ratio and observed that there is a dominance of females in coastal water populations. In addition, these authors pointed out that female specimens can be parasitized by the copepod Sphaeronella minuta Scott T., 1904 .

Perioculodes longimanus View in CoL is considered a common prey of some flatfish such as Buglossidium luteum (Risso, 1810) View in CoL , Arnoglossus laterna (Walbaum, 1792) View in CoL , Limanda limanda (Linnaeus, 1758) View in CoL and Pleuronectes platessa Linnaeus, 1758 View in CoL ( Beare and Moore, 1997; Schückel et al., 2011).

In this work, 3127 specimens of P. longimanus View in CoL were observed on soft substratum distributed over a bathymetric range of 7.8 - 12.81 m. Perioculodes longimanus View in CoL exhibited a uniform distribution along the entire coastline, except for the anthropised site of Haifa port (HM27), where the abundance was relatively low.