Gammarus salinus Spooner, 1947

7. Gammarus salinus Spooner, 1947 View in CoL

Synonyms: Gammarus zaddachi salinus auct.; Lagunogammarus salinus auct.

Descriptions and illustrations: Sexton 1942, pl. 1, figs 8, 9, pl. 2, figs 15-18 (as G. zaddachi , saline form); Spooner 1947, p. 20. figs 4C, 5D-E; Kinne 1954, p. 416, figs 1-4pp; Dennert et al. 1969, p. 23; Lincoln 1979, pp 243, 251, figs 111f, 115.

Ecology and habitat: Elsewhere in Europe Gammarus salinus is known as the species concentrated in the areas with the largest oscillations in salinity (den Hartog 1964, Movaghar 1964, Meurs & Zauke 1988); this is in agreement with the situation in the inner Oslofjord ( Skadsheim 1983). Here G. salinus lives in the lower intertidal, while the records from the south coast and the Bergen area mostly concern the shallow subtidal, as in the estuaries of Western Europe ( Spooner 1947, den Hartog 1964), although also there the species may occur intertidally under special circumstances, usually involving lowered salinity ( Vader 1965).

Distribution in Norway: Not well known. The species is common in the inner part of the Oslofjord (Skadsheim 1983, 1984), and it has also been found along the south coast ( Dennert 1973, Vader et al. 1984). In the Hardangerfjord Brattegard (1966) found G. salinus only in the side fjords, while the northernmost records hitherto are from the Bergen area ( Vader 1972). Vader (1977a) did not find G. salinus at all in the Sognefjord. G. salinus is a southern species, occurring along European coasts south to N. Spain (van Maren 1975); it is absent from Iceland ( Ingolfsson 1977).