Biodiversity of Echinological Fauna of Hard Substrates of the Algerian West Coast

Abstract

Echinoderms, exclusively marine animals, present a great diversity and are an important and very ancient phylum. Whether they are predators, vegetarian or scavengers, echinoderms frequently dominate the ecosystems in which they are subservient. Benthic macrofauna and particularly echinoderms acting directly on the functioning of marine ecosystems, represents the fundamental link in the food chain and an essential source of food for many consumers. There has been very little work on the echinoderms found in the western Algerian coast. The objective of this work is to conduct an inventory on the echinological fauna in the intertidal zone, including the description of the morphological and ethoecological characteristics of the echinoderms in their ecosystem. To this end ten stations were surveyed. For each station, a random sampling was performed on hard substrates found in the coast of Oran. The identification of species and faunal analysis permitted to identify six species belonging to this phylum with a presence of 55.17% of Echinoids (Echinoids), 34.8% of sea cucumber (holothurian)