Occurrence of the Lancelet in Haifa Bay, Israel

Abstract

A SPECIMEN of Branchiostoma lanceolatum (Pallas) was collected during the September 1953 cruise of the research vessel of the Sea Fisheries Research Station at a position at 32° 53′ 36″ N., 35° 1′ E., in Haifa Bay at the depth of 15 fathoms. Another station in the eastern Mediterranean has thus been added to the zoogeographical distribution of the lancelet. It was not unexpected that the animal should occur somewhere along the Israel Mediterranean coast, in view of the geographical proximity of the other stations where the species has been previously recorded. The lancelet, however, was not found during the previous bottom investigations carried out along the Israel coast during the years 1946–52 at the 10-, 30-, 50- and 75-fathom lines, of which only the 10-fathom line lies on sandy bottom. In these investigations a Pettersson bottom-grab and a dredge were used.