An Update of Amphipoda Checklist for the English Channel

Abstract

An updated checklist for 2022 of amphipods from the English Channel (La Manche) is given for eight geographical zones. This revision brings the inventory of 1999 up to date with recent data from the Normano-Breton Gulf and other studies focused on non-indigenous fauna, as well as recent data from benthic and suprabenthic studies, mainly in the eastern part of the English Channel (EC). The total number of species in the entire EC is 269. The number of species is much higher in the western basin (WEC) than it is in the eastern basin (EEC) or in the central part of the EC. The amphipod species listed here are distributed between the eight zones as follows: French WEC: 201 species; English WEC: 194; Normano-Breton Gulf: 224; Bay of Seine: 172; Wight: 97; French EEC: 149; English EEC: 64; and Central EC: 61. Of these species, 180 are present in both basins of the EC, while 78 are present only in the western basin and 11 are present only in the eastern basin. The low number of amphipods (<100) recorded in three of the eight zones is probably due to the lack of observations in these parts of the EC. Among the 269 amphipod species recorded with confidence in the EC, 24 are new to the EC since 1999, 12 are non-indigenous species, and 44 are observed only in one of the eight zones, mainly in the three zones of the western basin of the EC.