The marine crustacea decapoda of Sicily: a cecklist with remarks on their distribution.

Abstract

A checklist of the Crustacea Decapocla of Sicily, based on previously published records and on original data, is presented. The Sicilian waters were divided into three sectors to account for the different habitats present along the northern and western (sector A), eastern (B) and southern (C) coasts, for the sake of a better interpretation of the species distribution. A total of 186 species, vas recorded between 0 and 800 in depth, 31 of which are reported here for the first time. Sector A hosted 153 species, B 105 species. and C 117 species. The dissimilarities among the habitats present in the shallow waters of the three sectors accounted for the low co-occurrence of species: 30 species were common to A and C. 13 to A and B. and 2 to B and C. Seventy-two species co-occurred in the three sectors, recorded mainly in offshore soft bottoms investigated by trawl surveys. The importance of the aid given by such surveys, as well as by stomach contents analysis, in support of faunistic studies is highlighted. Lastly the affinity of the Mediterranean decapod fauna with that of the northeastern Atlantic is briefly discussed.