Ficopomatus enigmaticus ( Fauvel, 1923 )

Ben-Eliahu, M. Nechama & Ten Hove, Harry A., 2011, Serpulidae (Annelida: Polychaeta) from the Suez Canal- From a Lessepsian Migration Perspective (a Monograph) 2848, Zootaxa 2848 (1), pp. 1-147 : 14

Ficopomatus enigmaticus ( Fauvel, 1923)

Mercierella enigmatica Fauvel, 1923: 424 , fig. 1 [Type locality: France, Canal de Caen]; Fauvel 1927: 360–361, figs 123a–o [ France, estuarine].

Ficopomatus enigmaticus: ten Hove & Weerdenburg 1978: 114–116 , figs 2e–i; 3d–e, l–q; 4a–d, s, aa–bb, nn–vv, zz; 5c; synonymy [ Uruguay, Argentina, South Africa, the Netherlands, France, Tunisia, Hawaii, western Australia, New South Wales, California, Texas]; Zenetos et al. 2005: 73 [classified as an “established cryptogenic alien invasive species” in the Mediterranean].

Eastern Mediterranean

Mercierella enigmatica: Fauvel 1937: 45 [ Egypt, Lake Mareotis, first Levant record]; Fauvel 1955a: 11 [first Israeli sample, from the Nur pool, an artificially maintained estuarine pool S.E. of Akko (Acre), legit B. Wahrmann IV.1954, det. P. Fauvel, HUJ-Poly-1582)]; Saad 1974: 53 [ Egypt, 6 lakes, 5 from the Lower Delta and one from Upper Egypt]; Ghobashy 1984: 39, 44 [ Egypt, Damietta estuary]; Ghobashy & Hamada 1984: 53–63 [ Egypt, Damietta estuary]; El-Komi 1997: 109 [ Egypt, Lake Manzalah]; Ghobashy & Ghobashy 2005: 91 [presence in Damietta estuary citing Hamada (1980) and Abd-Elnaby (2005, for both references see App. Table 4) records from Lake Manzalah and in the area of Abu Qir Bay (eastern Alexandria), all brackish-water areas].

Ficopomatus enigmaticus: Ben-Eliahu & Dafni 1979: 207 [ Israel, Alexander River]; Ben-Eliahu 1991b: 518 [ Israel].

Material examined. Locations adjacent to the Suez Canal, Mediterranean side: Israel: 10 samples, HUJ, depth ca. 0.3 m.

Suez Canal material reported herein: 2 samples, 3 specs. Hebrew University-Smithsonian Expedition, Lake Timsah : SBE 7, 2 specs— Little Bitter Lake : SBE 1, 1 spec.

Locations adjacent to the Suez Canal : Landlocked, Egypt: Lake Qârün, legit G.N. El Shabrawy, det. H.A. ten Hove 2000, ZMA V.Pol. 4981, 10 specs .

Locations adjacent to the Suez Canal, Red Sea side: None.

Suez Canal depth and substrates: 0.3 m, shallow; under rocks; encrustation on tin can.

Colouration. Specimens from Lake Timsah with dark brown body; branchia of specimen from Bitter Lake with 6 rows of dark pigment.

Distribution. Worldwide in subtropical to temperate regions, northern and southern hemisphere; brackish. Mediterranean: Israel, Egypt.

Remarks. A new record for the Suez Canal dating from II.1973. A mixo-hyperhaline brackish species (ten Hove & Weerdenburg 1978, ten Hove & van den Hurk 1993).