Dominant intertidal crustacean and gastropod species in Qeshm Island, Iran, northern Persian Gulf mitra asgari, fateme amini yekta and sahar izadi Persian Gulf Biotechnology Research Center, Qeshm Island, Iran Qeshm Island is the largest island of the Persian Gulf. It is located in the north-eastern part, near the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman. Between 2007 and 2010 by support of the Persian Gulf Biotechnology Research Center a collection of the two most dominant macrobenthic fauna groups (Gastropoda and Crustacea) was gathered around the island. A total of 28 intertidal stations were investigated, including four basic habitat types (rocky, sandy, mud flats and mangrove forests), which resulted in a large diversity of species encountered. The present report provides a summary of the collected taxa. A total of 123 taxa belonging to Crustacea and Gastropoda are recorded in the present study. Identification of the species up to the lowest possible level was attempted; about 88% were identified up to species level. In total, 109 species have been identified. Rocky sites were the most diverse intertidal habitats in the island. Keywords: Crustacea, Mollusca, Gastropoda, Iran, Persian Gulf, intertidal, distribution Submitted 21 June 2012; accepted 12 July 2012 INTRODUCTION The first well-documented benthic fauna studies on the north- ern, southern and eastern parts of the Persian Gulf were per- formed by the Danish Survey Expedition (1762), the Danish Fisheries Investigation (1937 – 1938), the German Oceanographic Vessel (1965) and the Japanese Training Ship of Tokyo University (1968) (cited in Hasan, 1996). The following studies have been carried out on crustacean fauna of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman: Heller (1861), Alcock (1895, 1896, 1898, 1899a, b, 1900), Bogoyavlensky (unpublished), MacGilchrist (1905), Nobili (1905), Klunzinger (1913), Chopra & Das (1937), Stephensen (1945), Haig (1966), Takeda & Miyake (1970a), Pretzmann (1971), Evans et al. (1973), Kuronuma (1974), Motoh (1975a, b), Basson et al. (1977), Titgen (1982), Jones & Clayton (1983), Jones (1986), Hogarth (1988, 1989), Hornby (1997), Apel & Spiridonov (1998), Apel & Tu ¨rkay (1999), (Apel, 2001), Siddiqui & Kazmi (2003), Kazmi et al. (2007) and Ng et al. (2009). Since the last decade, there is a new taxonomic and ecological interest in the Iranian side of the Persian Gulf crustacean assem- blages, resulting in a number of new publications: Naderloo & Sari (2005, 2007), Moradmand & Sari (2007), Kamrani et al. (2009), Naderloo & Schubart (2009, 2010), Naderloo & Tu ¨rkay (2009, 2010), Shih et al. (2009), Yazdani et al. (2009), Anker et al. (2010), Khalaji-Pirbalouty & Wa ¨gele (2010a, b, c), Naderloo et al. (2010, 2011), Saeedi & Ardalan, 2010; Mokhlesi et al. (2011) and Shahdadi & Sari (2011). The offshore benthic gastropod species of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman received noticeable attention by Melvill (1898, 1928), Smythe (1972, 1975, 1979), Evans et al. (1973), Bosch & Bosch (1982), and Glayzer et al. (1984). Furthermore, Biggs & Grantier (1960), Basson et al. (1977), Sharabati (1981), Smythe (1982), MacCain (1984), Jones (1986), Bosch et al. (1995) and Hasan (1996) have reported some Saudi Arabian gastropod fauna of the Persian Gulf (cited in Hasan, 1996). Hosseinzadeh et al. (2001) listed some mollusca of the Iranian coasts of the Persian Gulf in their atlas in 2001. The invertebrate fauna along the Iranian coast of the Persian Gulf is still inadequately known and hence the poss- ible human effects on the present fauna are difficult to estab- lish. Despite its diverse macro-invertebrate assemblages, Qeshm Island is not an exception to this and it has been addressed by a few patchy and restricted studies with different targets only until now. This island is the largest island of the Persian Gulf, with 120 km length and up to 30 km width, situ- ated in the western part of the Strait of Hormuz (Ho ¨pner et al., 2000). By receiving more fresh and nutrient rich oceanic water through the Strait of Hormuz, it exhibits various substrates and ecosystems, including mangrove forests, rocky and sandy shores, mud flats and estuaries, which lead to a large biodiversity. By support of the Persian Gulf Biotechnology Research Center, a collection of intertidal macrobenthic communities was obtained in order to prepare a checklist for the two most dominant groups (Crustacea and Gastropda) of the Qeshm Island. The present report provides a summary of the collected taxa with locality data. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty-eight intertidal locations of different habitats (rocky, sandy, mud flats and mangrove forests), all around the Corresponding author: M. Asgari Email: mitasgari@yahoo.com 1 Marine Biodiversity Records, page 1 of 8. # Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 2012 doi:10.1017/S1755267212000747; Vol. 5; e87; 2012 Published online