Fauna! Movements from the Mediterranean into the Red Sea
163
Fauvel assumes that one of them, Spinther miniaceus which has been found in
association with a sponge, has been transported, together with its host, by ship.
Two hydroids may also belong to this category: Eudendrium racemosum mucronatum, which according to Billard (1926), reached Port Taufiq (the typical
variety of the species is also known from Japan). Corydendrium parasiticum found
by Billard (1926) at Port Taufiq and in the open Gulf of Suez (Billard, 1933) came
in his words "certainement par la Mediterranee"; however, Thornley reported it
in 1907 from Aden.
All the above-mentioned cases could, therefore, be considered at best as
examples of a rapid and passive transport through the canal.
3. There are several species which have their main and known distribution in
the Atlantic region; when they are reported for the first time from the Red Sea the
presumption is usually expressed that they came through the Suez Canal. In
almost every instance we are dealing with taxa and species in which zoogeographical information is still incomplete.
The case of Aiptasia diaphana, a Mediterranean actinian, is symptomatic: H.
Schmidt (1972) confines himselfto the comment: "A. diaphana was till now considered an endemie Mediterranean species. In the meantime I found it also in the
Gulf of Aqaba. According to Carlgren (1949) this species is present also in the
Suez Canal". H. Schmidt did not make further comments in this case. Other
authors confronted with a similar situation went into suppositions. In the case of
Clymene lumbricoides and Terebella lapidaria, two polychaetes found at Musseri
in the Southern Red Sea, Fishelson and Rullier (1969) wrote: "Comme elle semble
inconnue dans l'ocean Indien, c'est de la Mediterranee qu'elle a da passer en mer
Rouge par le canal de Suez" (my italies).
H.-E. Schmidt (1972), speaking of the three hydroids Podocoryne meteoris
("widespread in the Red Sea"), Köllikerinafasciculata (known also from the Arabian Sea) and Helgicirrha schulze i (known only from the Dahlak Archipelago),
state that they have been "undoubtedly transported through the Suez Canal into
the Red Sea" (my italies).
Transport through the Canal in these cases is certainly a possibility which
should be taken into account, but further investigations are necessary in order to
prove that these species did not reach the Red Sea from the south.
Eventually, they may belong to the same category as the wood-boring amphipod Chelura terebrans which was found by Schellenberg (1928) at Suez, and by
Omer-Cooper (1927) at Port Said. This is probably a cosmopolitan species, since
it extends from the North Atlantic to New Zealand; it could have been brought
on ship hulls also through the Suez Canal.
4. Many of the list of assumed Mediterranean species are known elsewhere in
the Indo-Pacific realm, or from Western tropical Africa. Their newly reported
occurrence in the Red Sea is probably due to previous lack of knowledge, since
these species could have reached the Red Sea from the southeast or from the
tropical Atlantic along the African coasts. They are probably circumtropical
species for which the Suez Canal played at most a complementary role in their
distribution. As an ex am pIe, among the polychaetes which possibly migrated
from the Mediterranean, Fishelson and Rullier (1969) list Hermodice carunculata
known from the Mediterranean and Southern Red Sea, and also from the Indian
163
Fauvel assumes that one of them, Spinther miniaceus which has been found in
association with a sponge, has been transported, together with its host, by ship.
Two hydroids may also belong to this category: Eudendrium racemosum mucronatum, which according to Billard (1926), reached Port Taufiq (the typical
variety of the species is also known from Japan). Corydendrium parasiticum found
by Billard (1926) at Port Taufiq and in the open Gulf of Suez (Billard, 1933) came
in his words "certainement par la Mediterranee"; however, Thornley reported it
in 1907 from Aden.
All the above-mentioned cases could, therefore, be considered at best as
examples of a rapid and passive transport through the canal.
3. There are several species which have their main and known distribution in
the Atlantic region; when they are reported for the first time from the Red Sea the
presumption is usually expressed that they came through the Suez Canal. In
almost every instance we are dealing with taxa and species in which zoogeographical information is still incomplete.
The case of Aiptasia diaphana, a Mediterranean actinian, is symptomatic: H.
Schmidt (1972) confines himselfto the comment: "A. diaphana was till now considered an endemie Mediterranean species. In the meantime I found it also in the
Gulf of Aqaba. According to Carlgren (1949) this species is present also in the
Suez Canal". H. Schmidt did not make further comments in this case. Other
authors confronted with a similar situation went into suppositions. In the case of
Clymene lumbricoides and Terebella lapidaria, two polychaetes found at Musseri
in the Southern Red Sea, Fishelson and Rullier (1969) wrote: "Comme elle semble
inconnue dans l'ocean Indien, c'est de la Mediterranee qu'elle a da passer en mer
Rouge par le canal de Suez" (my italies).
H.-E. Schmidt (1972), speaking of the three hydroids Podocoryne meteoris
("widespread in the Red Sea"), Köllikerinafasciculata (known also from the Arabian Sea) and Helgicirrha schulze i (known only from the Dahlak Archipelago),
state that they have been "undoubtedly transported through the Suez Canal into
the Red Sea" (my italies).
Transport through the Canal in these cases is certainly a possibility which
should be taken into account, but further investigations are necessary in order to
prove that these species did not reach the Red Sea from the south.
Eventually, they may belong to the same category as the wood-boring amphipod Chelura terebrans which was found by Schellenberg (1928) at Suez, and by
Omer-Cooper (1927) at Port Said. This is probably a cosmopolitan species, since
it extends from the North Atlantic to New Zealand; it could have been brought
on ship hulls also through the Suez Canal.
4. Many of the list of assumed Mediterranean species are known elsewhere in
the Indo-Pacific realm, or from Western tropical Africa. Their newly reported
occurrence in the Red Sea is probably due to previous lack of knowledge, since
these species could have reached the Red Sea from the southeast or from the
tropical Atlantic along the African coasts. They are probably circumtropical
species for which the Suez Canal played at most a complementary role in their
distribution. As an ex am pIe, among the polychaetes which possibly migrated
from the Mediterranean, Fishelson and Rullier (1969) list Hermodice carunculata
known from the Mediterranean and Southern Red Sea, and also from the Indian