A PRELIMINARY LIST OF THE SUAfMER MACRO BENTHOS IN THE INTERTIDAL ZONE OF THE WESTERN GULF OF SUEZ.

A PRELIMINARY LIST OF THE SUAfMER MACRO BENTHOS IN THE
INTERTIDAL ZONE OF THE WESTERN GULF OF SUEZ.
By
M. M. EL-KOMI*
* National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Alexandria, Egypt
Key Words: Macro benthos, intertidal zone, Western GulfofSuez.
ABSTRACT
The study covered the spatial disrribution of the macro benthic
species of the shallow intertidal benthic communities in an area
extending from Ain Sukhna (Gu(f ofSuez) to the South ofHurghada
City (Red Sea) during July and September 1991. The distribution of
the plant and animal species in the different sites showed a great
distinction along the intertidal zone. This was related mainly 10 nature
of the bottom. The dominated groups of bottom dwellers in area
included 159 species. The calcareous red, brown and green Algae
Laurencia, Sargassum, Turbinaria, Halimeda and Caulerpa were
the main algal genera associated with coral reefs assemblages. On the
other hand, the common coral assemblages included: Anthozoan,
RadianthllS (Actiniidae), Xenia, Heteroxenia, (A lcyonaria), and ‘
Stylophora, Acropora (Scleractinia), in addition to the Hydrozoan
order (Milliporina) Millepora. Molluscan Achanthopleura-, Chiton
(Polyplacophora), Cellana, Cerithium, Trochus (Gastropoda),
Brachiodontes, Chama, Tridacna (Bivalvia) were more abundant on
hard substrata. The Cirripedes Tetraclita and ChthamaLus and
Echinoderms, Ophicoma, Echinometra, and Diadema were common
on the fringing reefand in particular on the south region ofthe Red
Sea. Several aged oil patches were found on the beaches and
shoreline of the middle part due to the oil production and oil spills
from the offshore oil wells.