Distribution of the isopods (Crustacea: Peracarida: Isopoda) from Puerto Morelos Reef National Park, Quintana Roo, Mexico, with two new records for the Caribbean Sea

The distribution of the isopods of the Puerto Morelos Reef National Park, Quintana, Roo (PNAPM), in the Mexican Caribbean Sea was studied. Six sampling sites of 1 to 20 m depth were established to collect isopods associated with macroalgae, seagrasses, sponges, gorgonians, coral reef, soft sediment, and wooden piles, manually and with SCUBA. 2841 isopods belonging to six suborders, four superfamilies, 18 families, 32 genera and 56 species were studied. Of the species, 17 species are new records for the PNAPM. The species Mesanthura hopkinsi and Cirolana albidoida, are new records for the Caribbean Sea, while 12 extended their geographical scope. The family with the greatest abundance was Janiridae with 788 (28.23 %), mainly represented by Carpias algicola with 763 (26.86 %). The collection site with the largest number of families (14) was Jardines. The families that showed greater wealth per substrate were: Joeropsididae, Janiridae and Sphaeromatidae. The Rodman site obtained the greatest abundance with 1080 organisms (38 %). The substrate with the greatest abundance was coral pieces with 1714 organisms equivalent to 61 %. A list of the identified taxa and a table with the distribution by substrate, locality and number of specimens of each species studied, are also presented.