Cheiriphotis mediterranea Myers, 1983

Cheiriphotis mediterranea Myers, 1983 View in CoL

This corophiid is endemic to the Levantine basin; it had been reported only in Israel, but recent observations in Turkey extended the northernmost area of distribution ( Myers 1983; Sorbe et al. 2002; Bakir and Katağan, 2014; Çinar et al., 2015; Lo Brutto and Iaciofano, 2020; Lo Brutto et al., 2022). It is important to point out that though its collection has been limited to the eastern Mediterranean coast, some individuals were also observed in semi-enclosed bays in China ( Ren, 2006; Shi et al., 2022), a geographical occurrence that needs to be confirmed. Since its limited range, this amphipod is considered a relict species that survived the paleogeographic and paleoclimatic events that affected the Mediterranean Sea ( Lo Brutto et al., 2022).

Cheiriphotis mediterranea View in CoL is an infralittoral filter-feeder species and was generally observed on fine sand, coarse sand, detritic rubble and sandy-muddy bottoms also in association with the photid Photis longicaudata View in CoL ( Sorbe et al., 2002; Bakir and Katağan, 2014; Lo Brutto et al., 2022). Its bathymetric distribution ranges between 3 and 38 m depth, with maximum abundances recorded between 10 and 25 m ( Lo Brutto et al., 2022).

High abundances of this species have been observed in the anthropised Haifa Bay and, for this reason, C. mediterranea View in CoL seems to be a good bioindicator of environmental contamination such as pollutants, organic matter, and high carbon levels. The presence of 2619 specimens of C. mediterranea View in CoL , with a significant peak (1805 individuals) in 2014 in Haifa Bay, was distributed at depths between 7.8 and 12.81 m.