Bathyporeia guilliamsoniana (Spence Bate, 1857)

Bathyporeia guilliamsoniana (Spence Bate, 1857) View in CoL

This species is present in the northeastern Atlantic, North Sea, Marmara Sea and Black Sea. It is recorded in the Mediterranean and European waters: France, Scotland, England, Italy, Egypt, Israel Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Algeria, Norway, Portugal, Tunisia and Turkey ( Sars, 1890 -95; Gottlieb, 1960; Atta, 1988; N'Da, 1992; Eleftheriou and Robertson, 1992; Marques and Bellan-Santini, 1993; Bakalem, 1998; d'Udekem d'Acoz and Vader, 2005; Kirkim et al., 2006; Colosio et al., 2007; Pérez‐Domingo et al., 2008; Kröncke, 2011; Passarelli et al., 2012; Curatolo et al., 2013; Navarro-Barranco et al., 2013; Bakir and Katağan, 2014; Mülayim et al., 2015a,b; Coates et al., 2016; Belatoui et al., 2017; Mayer et al., 2018; Wijnhoven et al., 2018; Ballesteros et al., 2020).

All the species of the genus Bathyporeia are considered burrowers and confined to sandy bottoms ( Toulmond, 1964); in fact, B. guilliamsoniana is generally associated with shallow water well sorted fine sand sensu Pérès & Picard (1964) and other sand sublittoral biocenosis ( Jones, 1950; Diaviacco and Bianchi, 1987; Occhipinti Ambrogi et al., 1988; Robertson et al., 1989; Eleftheriou and Robertson, 1992; Heip and Craeymeersch, 1995; de-la-Ossa-Carretero et al., 2010) and often dominates in the communities of the shallow-water sand habitat ( Elmhirst, 1932). In detail, B. guilliamsoniana has been found on several types of soft substrates such as fine depositional sands with Tellina spp. ( Warwick and Davies, 1977), Spisula subtruncata sands, sand with shells fragments, intertidal sand ( Robertson et al., 1989; De Grave and Casey, 2000; Pérez‐Domingo et al., 2008), lagoon sands ( Reid, 1941; Diaviacco and Bianchi, 1987), muddy sands and mud ( Kirkim et al., 2006). The optimal sediment type for this bathyporeid is sand with median grain size with high percentage of carbonate particles but this species can live on slightly coarser sediments ( Toulmond, 1964; Degraer et al., 2006). Moreover, B. guilliamsoniana can be observed rarely on Mytilus galloprovincialis facies and oyster beds, in photophilic algae communities ( Millar, 1961; Mülayim et al., 2015a,b) and in areas subject to anthropogenic impact ( Bakalem, 1998; Colosio et al., 2007).

Regarding its bathymetric distribution range this species is generally observed in shallow waters between 0.5 and 20 m ( Bossanyi, 1957; Occhipinti-Ambrogi et al., 1988; Kirkim et al., 2006; de-la-Ossa-Carretero et al., 2010; Curatolo et al., 2013; Mülayim et al., 2015a,b; Belatoui et al., 2017) but some specimens have also been sampled at about 75 m depth ( d’Udekem d’Acoz, 2004).

Bathyporeia guilliamsoniana View in CoL feeds on detritus ( Navarro-Barranco et al., 2013) and eats organic particles adhered to sand grains ( Nicolaisen and Kanneworff, 1969), for these reasons can be considered as selective deposit-feeders ( Wolff, 1973). This species actively burrows into the sand by the action of the head, used to penetrate the sediment, and use the anterior appendages for generate an intense “ventral groove” current ( Watkin, 1939a, b). This amphipod species shows a pronounced sexual dimorphism ( d'Udekem d’Acoz, 2004) and is capable of nocturnal vertical movement ( d'Udekem d’Acoz and Vader, 2005); particularly, the adult males swim in the water column at night and these vertical displacements are probably regulated by lunar and tidal cycles ( Watkin, 1939b; d'Udekem d’Acoz, 2004; d'Udekem d’Acoz and Vader, 2005). Some authors have pointed out the presence of parasites on the body of B. guilliamsoniana View in CoL ; this species can be infested both by epizoan ciliates ( Wijnhoven et al., 2018) and copepods such as Sphaeronella paradoxa Hansen, 1897 View in CoL ( d'Udekem d’Acoz, 2004).

A total of 1383 individuals of B. guilliamsoniana View in CoL exclusively on soft substrate localized between 7.8 and 12.82m depth was collected. The species Bathyporeia guilliamsoniana View in CoL was observed to have high abundances in the central section of the Israeli coastline (H3-H41 stations) and lower abundances in the southernmost areas. In contrast, Haifa Bay exhibited the occasional presence of a few individuals supporting that the species was consistently absent in the stations characterized by high levels of anthropogenic activities.