Mollusc fauna of Iskenderun Bay with a checklist of the region [Iskenderun körfezi'nin Mollusca faunasi ve bölgenin tür listesi]

This study was performed to determine the molluscs distributed in Iskenderun Bay (Levantine Sea). For this purpose, the material collected from the area between the years 2005 and 2009, within the framework of different projects, wa s investigated. The investigation of the material taken from various biotopes ranging at depth from 0 to 100 m resulted in identification of 287 mollusc species and 27542 specimens belonging to them. Among the encountered species, Vitreolina cf. perminima (Jeffreys, 1883) is new record for the Turkish molluscan fauna and 18 species are being new records for the Turkish Levantine coast. A checklist of Iskenderun mollusc fauna is given based on the present study and the studies carried out beforehand, and a total of 424 moluscan species are known to be distributed in Iskenderun Bay. © Published by Central Fisheries Research Institute (CFRI) Trabzon, Turkey in cooperation with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan