POLYCHAETA ERRANTIA OF THE SUEZ CANAL

Abstract

ABSTRACT This collection of benthic Polychaeta from the eastern bank of the Suez Canal contains 55 species. Thirty-eight of them are new records for the Suez Canal. Of these, 22 probably originate as follows: Red Sea, 13; Mediterranean, four; species common to the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, five. Seven possible new species belonging to the families Phyllodocidae, Syllidae and Eunicidae are described. The 38 new records, added to those reported by the Cambridge Expedition of 1924, bring the total number of Errantia species for the Suez Canal to 81. Two species are added to the list of Red Sea Polychaeta which have migrated into the eastern Mediterranean: Glycinde bonhourei, a rare species, reported from the Great Bitter Lake and the Mediterranean coast of the Sinai peninsula (El 'Arish); and Eunice indica, reported from the Suez Canal and from the Mediterranean coasts of Sinai and Israel. Branchiosyllis uncinigera, a Red Sea species recently found on the Israel coast, is now reported from the Suez Canal.