Species diversity and composition of benthic animals in coastal waters of Ha Tinh Province

Abstract

The study was conducted through four surveys from May 2023 to February 2025 at eight sampling sites to assess the composition of benthic animals in the coastal waters of Ha Tinh Province. We identified 179 species of benthic animals belonging to 117 genera, 73 families, 28 orders, 8 classes and 4 phyla. Among them, the phylum Mollusca was dominant, comprising 115 species belonging to 75 genera, 47 families, 18 orders, and 3 classes. This was followed by the phylum Arthropoda with 32 species from 18 genera, 9 families, 2 orders and 1 class. The phylum Annelida includes 24 species belonging to 19 genera, 12 families, 5 orders, and 1 class. The phylum Echinodermata includes 8 species belonging to 5 genera, 5 families, 3 orders, and 3 classes. The findings revealed that 17 species (9.50%) were listed in the IUCN Red List (2024) under various threat categories: one species (0.56%) as Endangered, 13 species (7.26%) as Least Concern and three species (1.68%) as Data Deficient. Three species (1.68%) were listed in Appendix II of the CITES Convention (2023). According to the Vietnam Red Data Book (2024), one species was classified as Critically Endangered. One species was listed in the Vietnam Red Data Book (2024) under the Endangered category. Four species were listed in the Vietnam Red Data Book (2024) under the Vulnerable category. Besides, the results pointed out that 51 species (28.49%) were identified as having economic value in the coastal waters of Ha Tinh Province.