The zonation of psammolittoral harpacticoid copepods around the Isle of Man

Abstract

The early qualitative works on the harpacticoid fauna of the British Isles by T. & A. Scott, Norman, Brady, Gurney and Thompson largely omitted the intertidal psammic biotopes. Nicholls (1935, 1939) did much to redress the situation, describing many new species of interstitial harpacticoids from the sandy shores of the Firth of Clyde. Although his studies were taxonomic, he supplied some useful information on the distribution of the species. Some ecological data is also to be found in subsequent works on the east coast of Ireland (Wells, 1963 a; O'Riordan, 1971), the Exe estuary (Wells, 1963 b) and the Isles of Scilly (Wells, 1961, 1970). The only detailed studies of interstitial harpacticoid zonation on British coasts are those of Harris (1972) for the lower shore at Whitsand Bay, Cornwall, and Mclntyre & Murison (1973) for Firemore Bay, Scotland.