Echinodermata das praias de Salvador (Bahia, Brasil)

Abstract

The Echinoderms of Salvador beaches (Bahia, Brazil). This paper presents 28 species of Echinoderms collected on 5 beaches 01' Salvador (12°54' to \3°01' S and 38°26' to 38°33' W), Brazil, which are distributed in 19 families. Ophiuroidea represented 53,6% 01' the collectcd species, followed by Echinoidea (28,6%), Asteroidea (7,1 %), Holothuroidea (7,1 %), and Crinoidea (3,6%). Ophiuroi- dea and Echinoidea were the most frequent groups, occurring at ali the studied beaches while Crinoidea occurred only on 20% ofthem. Most ofthe species are characterized as belonging to the tropical warm waters, some to the shallow coas tal areas and some having a broad bathymetric distribution. The richness of species values on beaches ranged from 7 to 24, at Itapuã Beach, and from 2 to 14 among different kinds ofhabitats, where protected ones showed higher values.