Oersted in 1843 gave a brief description of Dodecaceria concharum collected from the Kattegat. This was inadequate for identifying the species. Caullery and Mesnil in 1898 described three forms of Dodecaceria (A, B and C) but they were uncertain which form Oersted described. Dehorne in 1933 described D caulleryi (now D. fimbriata), which reproduce asexually, and Form B of Caullery and Mesnil. By default Form B became D. concharum the parthenogenetic species Form A of Caullery and Mesnil. Gibson and Heppell in 1995 in an attempt to consolidate these names deposited new types for the two species at the Cambers Street Museum in Edinburgh.

The coastline of Tabasco State in the Gulf of Mexico represents a highly deteriorated ecosystem, where densely populated human settlements and large offshore petroleum developments are negatively affecting the marine biodiversity. Previous work on marine ascomycetes reported that in the Gulf of Mexico the diversity of these fungi might be threatened by anthropogenic activities. Therefore we evaluated the diversity of marine ascomycetes in this area, and registered 19 taxa. Ceriosporopsis capillacea was recorded for the first time for Mexico. The highest diversity was obtained in the beach of Sánchez Magallanes, which receives a great quantity and diversity of organic remains originating from El Carmen/Machona mangrove forests via the Santa Ana mouth, benefiting the proliferation of marine fungi. The lowest diversity was documented in the beach of Paraíso, which is close to the delta of one of the most polluted rivers in Mexico and to off-shore oil extraction platforms. We found a significant correlation between the community composition and abundance, implying that the overall abundance is defined by the community structure, perhaps as a result of competition. Additionally, our results indicated that there is no relationship between the grain size and the biodiversity observed.

An oceanographic cruise conducted during June 2008 in the Gulf of Gabes revealed the existence of different water masses; the Modified Atlantic Waters (MAW) circulated in the upper 100 m in the offshore area, the Mixed Mediterranean Water (MMW) was confined to the inshore region and the Ionian Water (IW) was in deep offshore water. The thermal stratification was indicated by the vertical profiles of temperature generated from a coast-offshore section. Phosphorus limitation was induced by the thermal stratification as shown by the high N/P ratio. Heterotrophic and mixotrophic dinoflagellates were the major contributors to total phytoplankton biomass. Ciliates were less abundant and dominated by tintinnids. Small planktonic copepods (≤1.45 mm) contributed to 93.64% of total copepod abundance in the inshore area as a result of the high density of Oithona similis, Oithona nana, Clausocalanus furcatus and Euterpina acutifrons in this area characterized by warm and salty MMW. In fact, small copepods were significantly correlated to both temperature and salinity. Small copepod fraction prevailed also in the MAW contributing to 71.05% of total copepod abundance as a result of the dominance of O. nana and C. furcatus. Nonetheless, the large copepod Nannocalanus minor was more adapted to the deep IW where it contributed to 44.05% of total copepod abundance. Invasive species were encountered in the offshore region intruded by the Atlantic waters. The Atlantic copepods were scarce and less abundant reflecting the weakening of the Atlantic flow in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean.