Bionomie benthique du petit golfe de Tunis

Abstract

This study is concerning benthic macrofauna of the bay of Tunis. It permitted to list 214 species distributed into 9.13 % molluscs, 16.8 % crustaceans, 63.5 % polychaeta, etc. Statistic analysis of the data defined four communities and described them with some synthetic parameters. The heterogenous sediments are extended on a large area and present the higher specific richness (149 species). The community is dominated by 2 polychaeta, Glycera convolute and Lumbrineris fragilis. The muddy sediments are limited to a small area in the center and characterized by a high abundance (4685 ind./m super(²)). The leader species are the polychaeta Melinna palmata and the isopod Apseudes talpa. However, the sandy sediments wich are limitted to the harbor area of Rades, are relatively poor and dominated by the polychaeta Notomastus latericeus.