TUBE EPIFAUNA OF THE POLYCHAETE PHYLLOCHAETOPTERUS-SOCIALIS CLAPAREDE

Animals greater than I mm, found among tangled tubes of Phyllochaetopterus socialis (Chaetopteridae) from Araca Beach, Sao Sebastiao district, Brazil, were studied for 1 year, with four samples in each of four seasons. They comprised 10 338 individuals in 17227 g dry weight of polychaete tubes, with Echinodermata, Polychaeta (not identified to species) and Crustacea as the dominant taxa. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index did not vary seasonally, only two species (a holothurian and a pycnogonid) showing seasonal variation. Ophiactis savignyi was the dominant species, providing 45.5% of individuals. Three other ophiuroids, the holothurian Synaptula hidriformis, the crustaceans Leprochelia savignyi, Megalobrachium soriatum and Synalpheus fritzmuelleri, the sipunculan Themiste alutacea and the bivalve Hiatella arctica were all abundant, but most of the 68 species recorded occurred sparsely. The assemblage associated with P. socialis was similar to the endofauna of the sponge Zygomycale parishii and the bryozoan Schizoporella unicornis, and to the epifauna of seaweed Sargassum cymosum, all of which occurred nearby. (C) 1995 Academic Press Limited