Diatoms (Bacillariophyta) from artificial substrates and sediments in the caribbean sea off yucatan, mexico

We provide a floristic and iconographic reference of benthic marine diatom taxa growing on various artificial substrate plates: Fiber-glass, stainless steel, aluminum and copper, afixed to a subtidal beach, as well as of diatoms from the adjacent sediments. The sampling site is located 10 km off the beach of Puerto de Telchac, Yucatan, Mexico. The floristic survey comprises 161 diatom taxa, species and varieties, with six new records for Mexican waters with taxonomic, nomenclatural, and updated bibliographic information for each taxon. Twenty-five taxa were identified solely to genus level. The number of species per substrate was: Fiberglass 102, sediments 76, aluminum 51, stainless steel 14, and copper 10. The resulting catalog gathers 267 images, with 137 scanning electron micrographs and 135 light micrographs. Fiber-glass plates showed the highest similarity to natural substrate, at 70% of the total taxa, while copper harbored only 6%.