CONTRIBUTION TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE AMPHIPODA (CRUSTACEA) OF THE MEDITERRANEAN COAST OF ISRAEL

Abstract

A total of 54,275 amphipod specimens, identified to 53 species, was collected between 1994 and 1999 off the Mediterranean coast of Israel at depths ranging from the intertidal to 27 m. Four species constitute new records for the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and 20 are newly recorded from the Israeli coast. The amphipod fauna is considerably impoverished compared with the western Mediterranean. Of the 98 species known from the Israeli coast, 55% have an Atlanto-Mediterranean distribution, 19% are Mediterranean endemics, 16% are cosmopolitan, and 5% have entered through the Suez Canal.