Spatial and temporal variations of soft bottom polychaetes of Sinop Peninsula (southern Black Sea) with new records

The soft bottom polychaete community was examined seasonally at eight stations between August 2009 and July 2010. A total of 76 species belonging to 27 families were identified in the Sinop Peninsula (southern Black Sea), of which 23 species are new records for the Black Sea fauna and 7 species for the Black Sea coast of Turkey. Syllidae was the best represented family in the research area and contributed 15.78% of the total fauna. The most dominant and frequent species were Micronephthys stammeri and Protodorvillea kefersteini in the study area. Community parameters varied significantly among stations and seasons; number of species ranged from 1 to 21 per 400 cm(2), density from 25 to 16,700 ind. m(-2), Shannon-Wiener diversity index value from 0 to 3.4, and Pielou evenness index value from 0 to 0.98. The highest population density was recorded at station C1 in winter, where P. kefersteini was the most dominant species (15,125 ind. m(-2)). The correlation between polychaete community and environmental variables was strongly high (r = 0.91) according to canonical correlation analysis. The main factors affecting the polychaete assemblages were depth and sediment texture.