Abstract

Four species of the free-living nematodes were collected from marine sediments in the sublittoral zone in the East Sea, Korea and were identified, described, and illustrated. Paranticoma tricerviseta Zhang, 2005, originally described from the Bohai Sea, China, is recorded for the first time in the East Sea, Korea; only in body length and thickness (1902-2282 μm compared to 2472-3300 μm, 50-62 μm compared to 57-82 μm, respectively). Specimens of Parodontophora marina Zhang, 1991, from East Sea, Korea largely agrees with the original description of Zhang (1991) of nematodes from the Bohai Sea, except for differences in body length and thickness (1190-1345 μm compared to 1235-1408 μm, 40-44 μm compared to 42-72 μm). Terschellingia longicaudata de Man, 1907 is reported for the first time in Korea, but was previously considered a cosmopolitan species of nematodes with a widespread distribution from the North Sea, Belgium to the Exclusive Economic Zone of New Zealand; it differs from the original description in body thickness(30-38 μm vs. 40-62 μm). Vasostoma brevispicula Huang & Wu, 2011, originally described from the subtidal muddy sediment in the Yellow Sea, China, is newly reported in Korea; apart from a few minor morphological differences, body length and thickness (2009-2425 μm vs. 2119-2906 μm, 41-48 μm vs. 37-58 μm). The present study on unrecorded species improves our understanding of nematode species diversity in Korean waters.