Ecology and biodiversity of coral reef polychaetes of Guam and Saipan, Mariana Islands.

Polychaetes collected from coral reefs and other coastal habitats on Guam and Saipan, and information from published studies bring the known number of species from these two islands to 101 and 15, respectively. Sediment and rock dwelling species collected, and those previously recorded, belong to 25 families. Polychaete assemblages are compared on the basis of species richness, genera in common, and trophic categories, with other West Pacific, Hawaiian and East Indian Ocean locations. Polychaetes from Guam are similar to those on reef flats of Hawaii, Enewetak, and Indonesia in faunal composition and density. Despite the limitations in comparable collecting effort and quantitative analyses for some of the areas, these coral reefs have similar complements of families and genera present, and proportions of four trophic categories.