ALBERT

Description: Light and electron microscopic examination of a number of dpecies previously attributed to the genus Syracosphaera LOHMANN show that three groups can be delimited, all of which warrant generic status. Caneosphaera GAARDER and Coronosphaera GAARDER are described, and the genus Syracosphaera with type species the two-layered S. pulchra LOHMANN is emended with redescription in terms of morphological features seen under light and electron microscope. New combinations are presented for five species.

Description: Through correspondence, the authors determined that each possessed material of an undescribed wrasse of the genus Suezichthys SMITH. The first five specimens of this species were taken in December, 1964 by R. V. "Anton Bruun" while trawling in 78-82 m and in 70-80 m (2 and 3 specimens resp.) off the Somali Republic, East Africa; the next two were collected a month later by R. V. "Meteor" by trawl off Kenya in 124-130 m; the last two were trawled in July and October, 1972 by U. S. National Marine Fisheries Service research vessel "Townsend Cromwell" off Oahu, Hawaiian Islands in 119-168 m. These nine specimens form the basis for the description herein of this new labrid fish.

Description: 46 hydropolyp species of 28 genera and 10 families were sampled during the "Meteor" passage 1964/65 (IIOE) through the Red Sea and its northern and southern exits and on the occasion of several ecological investigations of 29 selected coral reef sections of the central Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. These collections comprise 128 single records of hydropolyp species. Three species and two genera each with one species are doubtful. 25 species, seven genera, one family and one subfamily, together from 49 records have not previously been found in the Red Sea and its exits. Including these newly reported species, the total list increases from 64 species and 112 records (SCHMIDT 1972) to 89 species and 240 single records and 51 additional ones. Scanning microscopical photos, made for the first time for the illustration of the hydropolyps, have been shown to be suitable for a better characterization and diagnosis of the species. Qualified results on the reasons for the horizontal distribution of the species known from the Red Sea area cannot be given because of the low number of samples sporadically distributed through the whole area. In contrast with this fact, the vertical spread of the species sampled seems primarily to be regulated by water exchange and light intensity. For example, four species of hydropolyps are excellent indicators of certain abiotic factors or combinations of them: Gymnangium eximium reacts extremely stenophote-photophobe-rheophil, Eudendrium ramosum moderately stenophote-photophobe-rheophobe, Lytocmpus philippinus moderately stenophotephotophil-rheophil, and Halocordyle disticha var. australis extremely stenophote-photophil but moderately rheophil. Other species have been found throughout all the light zones. Combined with the small size of their colonies their euryphotic behaviour does not allow their use as indicator species.

Description: Four species of gammaridean Amphipoda are recorded from the Iberian deep sea basin at about 5000 m depth: Bathyceradocus iberiensis sp. n., Paracallisoma platepistomum sp. n., Parandaniexis cf. mirabilis SCHRELLENBERG, 1929, and Parargissa galatheae BARNARD, 1961. The biogeography of the four species is discussed.

Description: Using a Bongo-Net equipped with a multiple codend closing device, the vertical distribution of siphonophores has been observed in 100 m depth intervals at 13 stations off Cap Mirik (19° N) (from 0-500 m depth). The distributional pattern of the 15 siphonophores species found is discussed in relationship to the hydrography of this upwelling region. The following main features have been observed in comparison with the warmer oceanic water offshore: (1) a lower diversity, (2) a shallower distribution of some of the deep living species due to the lower temperature in the upper 300 m and a lower transparency, (3) no contribution to acoustic scattering by physonect siphonophores.

Description: From sublittoral silty sediments (118 m depth) of the North Sea (59° 0.5' N; 01° 20.5' E), Bathymacrostomum spirale n. gen. n. sp. is described on the basis of squeeze preparation. According to the organization of the cuticular apparatus of the bursal organ the species belongs to the family Dolichomacrostomidae RIEGER, 1971. The absence of an accessory gland organ and the simplicity of the penis stilet leads to the establishment of the subfamily Bathymacrostominae nov. subfam.

Description: Description of Acanthophmyngoides quintus nov. spec. (Desmodorinae) with discussion of the systematical relationship to Spiriniinae and Pseudonchinae, and description of Richtersia iberica nov. spec. with discussion of the relationship to Desmodorinae.

Description: The Great Meteor Seamount is situated in the subtropical NE Atlantic. The dimension of the plateau in the depth of 400m is 1465 km2 ; its lowest depth 275 m. 35 species have been caught above the plateau in 1967 and 1970 (voyages 9 c and 19; R. V. "Meteor") with a bottom trawl, the Agassiz-trawl, with BEYER's epibenthic closing net, the triangle-dredge and the chain-dredge. For comparison fishes of the same species were collected off Morocco, Mauretania and Senegal. The circular current system above the seamount and the low rates of the net transport are the reasons for the existence of the autochthonous demersal fish populations, in spite of the pelagic stages of development. A comparison of the populations of three species from the seamount and from the African shelf, using a multivariate method (linear discriminant function), indicates a genetical diverging development of the populations. An overlapping of the populations is only applicable for 1.7 % of the individuals. This argument for an autochthonus demersal fish fauna is corroborated by nearly the same composition of species in 1967 and 1970, the small differences in the dominance of the species and the great homogeneity of the fish fauna in the two years. The distribution of the species above the plateau is nearly uniform. The species Aulopus filamentosus, Phycis phycis, Macroramphosus scolopax, Anthias anthias, Antigonia capros, Capros aper, Callionymus phaeton and Arnoglossus rueppelli are characteristic for the fauna, as in 6 of 11 comparable catches these 8 species were present together. For the demersal fishes the plateau is a rather uniform biotope, for it is mainly covered with biogenic sand. The aggregations of the seamount's own plankton and nekton near the bottom in daytime is exclusively or partly the food for 94% of the fish species, while the bottom fauna is only utilized by 22% of the species. Only Callionymus phaeton feeds exclusively on bottom animals. Shrimps (predominantly Plesionika heterocarpus) are the favoured prey of the majority of fish species. Relative to the number of examined stomachs the small crustacea like ostracodes and copepods are most abundant. Fishes were found in the stomachs of 8 species. Moreover cuttle-fish are of some importance as food of the bigger fishes. A comparison of the food of respective species from the African shelf shows that the lower availability of food above the seamount has no influence on the feeding behaviour of the species. lt seems, that there is sufficient food at the seamount, so that the fishes must not put up with animals they disdain elsewhere. The fish fauna from the Great Meteor Seamount shows the greatest similarity with the demersal fish fauna of the African shelf between Gibraltar and Cap Blanc (28 species in common). The Great Meteor Seamount has only 24 species in common with Madeira and 17 with the Canary Islands. Two species suggest a possible influence of settlement from the Western Atlantic. These species also belong to the fauna of Madeira and the Josephine Seamount, while they are absent on the African shelf. The species Gnathophis codoniphorus, Callionymus sousai and probably also the ray of the genus Raja are endemic. The depth of the plateau (275-400 m) has a great influence on the composition of the fish fauna. Regarding the vertical distribution of the species in the rest of their distribution areas, the plateau of the Great Meteor Seamount is situated at the optimal depth.