Serpulids (Annelida: Polychaeta) Along the Mediterranean Coast of Israel—new Population Build-Ups of Lessepsian Migrants

A scuba-diving expedition along the Mediterranean coast of Israel focused on crevice and overhang concretionary (coralligenous) habitats. Twenty-two serpulid species were collected. Four are new records from the Israeli coast: Rhodopsis pusilla and Semivermilia crenata (cryptic species previously reported from (he Levant [Cyprus]) and Hydroides minax and Pomatoleios kraussii (Lessepsian migrants). A revised list of Levant serpulids numbers 34 species belonging to seventeen genera (including one estuarine genus and species) with the Lessepsian component numbering seven species belonging to three genera. The Lessepsian migrant Hydroides minax has recently become very abundant along the central and northern Israeli coast, and other Lessepsian serpulids likewise appear to be more frequently encountered and more important by number than formerly. Substrate, habitat and depth range information for the migrants is supplemented. The population build-ups suggest that some of the migrants will increasing...