Checklist of free-living marine nematodes from Jardines de la Reina coral reef system, Cuba

Abstract

The coral reef system Jardines de la Reina ( JR) includes one of the most remarkable Marine Protected Areas in the Caribbean due to its extension and high level of conservation. However, the diversity of small invertebrates (organisms with body size less than 0.5 mm) in JR is unknown. For this reason, we propose to make the first taxonomic checklist of free-living marine nematodes associated with coralline bottoms in JR. During the Alucia expedition in 2017, we studied six sites in the reef terrace (5m–10 m depth), distributed in the west, center and east of the JR archipelago. We identified 1 546 nematodes belonging to 70 species, 20 families, and six orders. The best represented orders were Chromadorida (20 genera), Desmodorida (18 genera) and Enoplida (13 genera). The most abundant species were Croconema cinctum, Euchromadora vulgaris, Desmodora communis, Chroma- dora brevipapillata, and Dichromadora amphidiscoides. Ten species were new records for Cuba Chromadorina epidemos, Desmoscolex campbelli, Draconema ophicephalum, Meta- desmodora amphidiscata, Oncholaimus sp., Paracyatholaimus intermedius, Perepsilonema ritae, Praeacanthonchus sp, Prochromadorella mediterranea and Zalonema vicentei. Received: 21-04-2022 Accepted: 09.08.2022 Editor: Yander L. Diez

Keywords

• reef system
• inventory
• species richness
• hard bottom
• meiofauna