Distribution and biogeographic relationships of the Hydroid fauna of the Australian West coast: A preliminary account |
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Jeanette E. Watson |
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Distribution and biogeographic relationships of 148 hydroid species from the western coast of the Australian continent bordering the Indian Ocean are examined. Fauna1 distribution along the western coastline is controlled by two major oceanic currents, the tropical Leeuwin Current and the warm temperate Western Australian Summer Current. A zone of confluence between the temperate and tropical hydroid fauna occurs at latitude 26% with an attenuated zone of overlap existing to 34ºS. Forty-four per cent of the western Australian fauna occurs in south and south-eastern Australia and 24% on the subtropical and tropical eastern coast. A distinct overlap zone of tropical and temperate species occurs at Shark Bay. About half of the 25 species known from the southern Indian Ocean occur on the western Australian coast. Twenty-six per cent of the western fauna is common to southern and eastern Africa, 32% to the tropical Indian Ocean and Indonesian archipelago and 18% to the Indo-west Pacific. |
Keywords: Eastern Africa, Indian Ocean, Indo-West Pacific, Leeuwin Current, western Australian Summer Current, Houtman Abrolhos Islands, overlap zone, western Australia, southern Australia. |
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