A commonly found red alga of the upper intertidal zone of New Zealand rocky coasts is described for the first time as Pyropia plicata sp. nov. This species has been incorrectly known as Porphyra columbina Mont. (now Pyropia columbina (Mont.) W.A.Nelson) for many years. Pyropia plicata is widespread and common, and it is readily distinguished from other species of bladed Bangiales in New Zealand...

Neosabellides lizae, a new species of Ampharetidae, is described from the intertidal zone off Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia. The new species is referred to the genus Neosabellides based on the shape of the prostomium, three pairs of branchiae, 14 thoracic segments with notopodia, 12 thoracic uncinigerous segments, and the first two pairs of abdominal uncinigers of tho...

Cercariae capricornia I–VI, six new cercariae putatively identified as belonging to the Acanthocolpidae, are described and named from prosobranch gastropods of the family Nassariidae collected from the intertidal zone in the Capricornia region, Central Queensland, Australia. Four species are reported from Nassarius olivaceus and two from N. dorsatus. The cercariae have a unique and complex thre...

Mussel seed, obtained from the intertidal zone and permanently immersed collector ropes, was cultivated on ropes suspended from three rafts located at three different sites within the Ria de Arousa (Galicia, NW Spain). Sites were characterized by different levels of phytoplankton availability. The source of seed stock had a marked influence upon subsequent mussel growth; seed originating from c...

A new species of sea anemone from the intertidal zone of San Matias Gulf is described. Andvakia manoloi sp. nov. is a small and inconspicuous species that differs from other species of the genus in number of tentacles, number of mesenteries at proximal and distal part of the column, column division, muscles, cnidae, size, habit and distribution. Andvakia manoloi sp. nov. is the first species of...

Marine bacterial communities isolated from the water column, sediment, the rock surface, and the green seaweed Ulva compressa were studied in an intertidal ecosystem. The study area included a coastal zone chronically affected by copper mine waste disposals. Bacterial community composition was analyzed by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) of 16S rRNA genes, and multivar...

Crabs are renowned for their cranky demeanor, but when one considers the extreme conditions under which they must survive, it becomes easier to sympathize with these crotchety crustaceans. One hardship that crabs must endure is changing temperature: a daily swing of 20°C is not unusual for the intertidal zone. Because crabs do not actively maintain a constant internal body temperature, environm...

Deciphering ecological effects of major catastrophic events such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, storms and fires, requires rapid interdisciplinary efforts often hampered by a lack of pre-event data. Using results of intertidal surveys conducted shortly before and immediately after Chile's 2010 M(w) 8.8 earthquake along the entire rupture zone (ca. 34-38°S), we provide the first q...

Knowledge about the consequences of Arctic warming for marine biogeography remains limited. Mytilus mussels play a key ecological role in the littoral zone, and they are expected to be sensitive to climate change. Here we used a space-for-time approach as a first attempt to infer the coupling between climate warming and population structure and abundance of intertidal mussels along a latitudina...

Intertidal oyster reefs, 3-dimensional structures created by years of successive settlement of larval oysters on adult oyster shells, provide levels of surface and interstitial heterogeneity that are rare in marine ecosystems. Surprisingly, little is known about the ecological benefits for oysters (Crassostrea virginica) in these aerially exposed, structurally complex systems. In this study a 2...