Intertidal Amphipod assemblages of two Iranian Islands of the Persian Gulf

In the current study, the intertidal amphipod assemblages of two Iranian Islands which includes Qeshm , as an Island near to mainland, and Abu Musa, as an Island far from the mainland. The sampling is down in eight stations in each Island from 2013 to 2016. Results show that the amphipod assemblages of Abu Musa and Qeshm islands were composed of 8 species from 8 genera and 5 families and 11 species from 11 genera and 6 families, respectively. The record of the Glossomaera octodens (Sivaprakasam, 1968) is new for the western part of the Indian Ocean. There were no differences in taxonomic indices between islands. However, both islands showed similar average taxonomic distance with greater variation in taxonomic distance and species richness [a1] of Qeshm compared with Abu Musa, primarily because of .greater variation in habitats in the former. The better environmental conditions in Abu Musa caused higher abundance per species then in Qeshm. The results of the present study add two species to previous reports of the Abu Musa Island and produce first comprehensive listed record of amphipods in the Qeshm Island, including new species record.