Title: Taxonomy and biodiversity of Svalbard hydroids
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Principal Investigator Marta Ronowicz Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences Sopot, Poland |
Project goals
The main aim of the project is to assess and present hydroid diversity in the waters of the Arctic Svalbard Archipelago. Efforts have been undertaken to describe and illustrate each species in a way that may be helpful to marine biologists without specific taxonomic training in identifying hydroid taxa.
Results
Collected materials contained 1,221 hydroid specimens. A total of 70 taxa representing two orders and 14 families were identified. Fifty-seven taxa were identified to species level, nine to genus and three to family level. Occasional lack of gonozooids, which are an important taxonomic feature, made the species identification impossible in some cases. Twenty-five species and the family Phialellidae were reported for the first time in the investigated area. One species, Halecium arcticum Ronowicz & Schuchert, 2007 was described as a species new to science.
A Web page illustrating the Svalbard hydroid fauna is under construction.
