Contents
Conspectus
1. "Lessepsian Migration"
2. The Structure of the Book
3. A Preamble to the Conc1usions
Dynamic Zoogeography
1. The Historical Background
1
1
1
2
3
9
1.1 The Tethys and the Origins of the South West Asiatic Barrier
9
1.2 The Pleistocene of the Eastern Mediterranean
. . . . . .
15
1.3 The Pleistocene of the Red Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . .
20
1.4 The Pleistocene and Postpleistocene History of the Isthmus of Suez 24
1.5 The Problem of the Pre-Lessepsian Migrants Through the Isthmus of
Suez
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
30
1.6 The Sirbonic Lagoon (Sabkhat el Bardawil)
. . . . . . . . . . 34
2. The Suez Canal
39
2.1 The Building of the Canal, Its Physical Features
39
2.2 History of Research
. . . . . .
47
2.3 The Hydrography of the Suez Canal
50
2.4 The Bottom of the Suez Canal
63
2.5 The Biota of the Suez Canal
70
2.6 History of the Population of the Canal
71
2.7 Species Diversity in the Suez Canal
76
2.8 Reproduction and Sizes of Animals in the Suez Canal
81
2.9 The Metahaline Environments of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf 82
3. The Migrant Biota
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
What is a Lessepsian Migrant?
The Levant Basin of the Mediterranean
The Levant Shore-the Core Area of the Lessepsian Immigration
The Analysis of Lessepsian Migration-Methodology . . . . .
87
87
116
123
127