An updated checklist of marine and brackish water Amphipoda (Crustacea: Peracarida) of the southern Bay of Biscay (NE Atlantic)

Abstract

An updated list of the marine and brackish water amphipods recorded from the southern Bay of Biscay, i.e. from 46°N and 9°W to the Atlantic coastlines of Spain and France, is given. This checklist, based on literature review and unpublished observations, includes recent systematics revision and provides distributional and ecological data for each species. A total of 319 species (14 Caprellidea, 284 Gammaridea, 21 Hyperiidea) has been recorded; this number is higher than in the English Channel which is a continental shelf sea, while the number of Gammaridea species is similar to that of the Mediterranean French waters. Nineteen species (15 in the bathyal zone, 2 on the continental shelf, and 2 in the intertidal zone) appear "endemic" to the Bay of Biscay. Bathymetric distribution shows that the highest amphipod diversity is found in the 0-10 m depth zone (148 species). This study also emphasizes the importance of bathyal amphipods (131 species), especially on the lower continental slope (500-2000 m depth), related to the presence of Cap Ferret and Capbreton canyons.