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Photographic survey of benthos provides insights into the Antarctic fish fauna from the Marguerite Bay slope and the Amundsen Sea†

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2012

Joseph T. Eastman ,
Margaret O. Amsler ,
Richard B. Aronson ,
Sven Thatje ,
James B. McClintock ,
Stephanie C. Vos ,
Jeffrey W. Kaeli ,
Hanumant Singh  and
Mario La Mesa
Joseph T. Eastman*
Affiliation:
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Ohio University, Athens OH 45701, USA
Margaret O. Amsler
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA
Richard B. Aronson
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA
Sven Thatje
Affiliation:
Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
James B. McClintock
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA
Stephanie C. Vos
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA
Jeffrey W. Kaeli
Affiliation:
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
Hanumant Singh
Affiliation:
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
Mario La Mesa
Affiliation:
ISMAR-CNR, Istituto di Scienze Marine, UOS di Ancona, Largo Fiera della Pesca, 60125 Ancona, Italy
*
eastman@ohiou.edu
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Abstract

We reviewed photographic images of fishes from depths of 381–2282 m in Marguerite Bay and 405–2007 m in the Amundsen Sea. Marguerite Bay fishes were 33% notothenioids and 67% non-notothenioids. Channichthyids (47%) and nototheniids (44%) were the most abundant notothenioids. The deep-living channichthyid Chionobathyscus dewitti (74%) and the nototheniid genus Trematomus (66%) were the most abundant taxa within these two families. The most abundant non-notothenioids were the macrourid Macrourus whitsoni (72%) and zoarcids (18%). Amundsen Sea fishes were 87% notothenioids and 13% non-notothenioids, the latter exclusively Macrourus whitsoni. Bathydraconids (38%) and artedidraconids (30%) were the most abundant notothenioids. We observed that Macrourus whitsoni was benthopelagic and benthic and infested by large ectoparasitic copepods. Juvenile (42 cm) Dissostichus mawsoni was not neutrally buoyant and resided on the substrate at 1277 m. Lepidonotothen squamifrons was seen near and on nests of eggs in early December. A Pogonophryne sp. from 2127 m was not a member of the deep-living unspotted P. albipinna group. Chionobathyscus dewitti inhabited the water column as well as the substrate. The pelagic zoarcid Melanostigma gelatinosum was documented in the water column a few metres above the substrate. The zoogeographic character of the Marguerite Bay fauna was West Antarctic or low-Antarctic and the Amundsen Sea was East Antarctic or high-Antarctic.

Keywords

ChionobathyscusDissostichusLepidonotothenMacrourusNotothenioideiPogonophryne
Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , February 2013 , pp. 31 - 43
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2012

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Footnotes

†

This paper is dedicated to the memory of Rebecca Dickhut. Her management skills and boundless energy as co-chief scientist of our Oden cruise made it possible for us to capture the images of Amundsen Sea fauna highlighted here.

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