Biodiversity of intertidal and shallow subtidal habitats in Abu Musa Island, Persian Gulf, Iran, with an updated species checklist

Abstract

The current paper presents the first comprehensive marine biodiversity survey in Abu Musa Island, an Iranian offshore island in the Persian Gulf. In total, 366 marine species, belonging to 13 phyla were collected among which Arthropoda and Mollusca, together with more than 66%, were the most diverse taxa. Nearly all the identified species (96.7 %) are new records for the island, within which 40 species (10.9%) are recorded for the first time from the Persian Gulf. Seven species (two brachyuran crabs, three alpheid shrimps, one amphipod and one polychaete worm) have recently been described from the survey, and two new alpheid shrimps are currently being described. The relatively high number of new species/records found in Abu Musa Island reflects the lack of taxonomic investigations and sampling of the Persian Gulf.