Comments on abstract, title, references

1. Title “Heavy metals contamination…………” was not emphasizing the key finding. The study of heavy metals contamination and distribution of benthic foraminifera… for what...??

2. In the abstract, what is the main objective/ purpose of this work to study the heavy metal concentration and benthic foraminiferal distribution was missing

3. The authors refer to about 70 publications, and literature review is perfect but there is a need to update the research by using new citations

Comments on introduction/background

1. The approach of the Author’s is very interesting and data is presented in good clarity about the topic that’s what already known.

2. The research question was clearly outlined and justified with the previous literature.

Comments on methodology

1. The study lacked clear control groups or other comparison metrics.
2. Please site each method from where you have adopted.

Comments on data and results

1. The benthic foraminiferal distribution and heavy metals concentration were reported nicely.

Comments on discussion and conclusions

1. It will be needed to perform several statistical tests as, for example, Principle Component Analysis, to know which factor is the most important in terms of the abnormalities, but also in terms of the distribution and also it will be needed to perform diversity indexes to know the ecology of benthic foraminifera.

The paper entitled ‘Heavy metals contamination and distribution of benthic foraminifera from the Red Sea coastal area, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’ by Mohamed Youssef. have collected a quite interesting dataset. Generally speaking, the MS is well written and the text is clear and easy to read. The paper uses benthic foraminiferal bio proxies to decipher the zones of pollution. It is a feasibility study in view of major city and also a tourist place with a population of over 2.6 million and an area of 1500 km2 and the availability of a source of pollutant like domestic and industrial untreated effluents. Due to its importance, this paper contains valuable information and is recommended for publication, but only after the authors have made thorough changes as suggested above.