Marine gastropods of accra beach, barbados, North atlantic ocean

Abstract

The widespread occurrence of marine gastropods in coastal regions is a straightforward evidence of successful adaptation to different environments. In the Caribbean Sea, as one of Conservation Inter-national’s biodiversity hotspots, little is known about the gastropod fauna, especially in the Eastern Caribbean. The present study contributed to bridge this gap by studying the biodiversity of gastro-pods from Accra Beach, Barbados. Throughout random collections in September 2015, we collected 321 gastropods, comprising eight species, distributed in three families (Neritidae: Nerita tessellata, N. fulgurans, N. versicolor and N. peloronta; Littorinidae: Echinolittorina ziczac, E. angustior and E. tuber-culata; and Muricidae: Plicopurpura patula). Nerites were more abundant and diverse, highlighting N. tessellata, representing 66% of the sampled gastropods. This paper also reports the first record of N. fulgurans and E. angustior for the island of Barbados.