Checklist with first records for the Echinoderms of northern Tunisia (central Mediterranean Sea)

Abstract

Tunisia occupies a strategic biogeographic position in the Mediterranean Sea and the Strait of Sicily is considered a biogeographical boundary that separates the eastern and western basins. Despite the importance of marine biodiversity in Tunisia, the few studies of Echinodermata fauna in this region data from long ago. In order to update and produce a validated checklist of the echinoderms that occur in northern Tunisia, a study of this phylum was carried out between 2012 and 2016. Forty-five species were inventoried and distributed into the five living Echinodermata classes (Crinoidea, Asteroidea, Ophiuroidea, Echinoidea and Holothuroidea). New occurrences of four species from Tunisian marine waters [Asterina pancerii (Gasco, 1876), Luidia atlantidea (Madsen, 1950), Ophiactis virens (Sars, 1859) and Leptopentacta tergestina (Sars, 1857)], are cited and discussed here for the first time.