Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-g4j75 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-16T00:05:49.911Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Demersal ichthyofaunal distribution in the abyssal eastern North Atlantic, With special reference to Coryphaenoides (Nematonurus) armatus(Macrouridae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

N. R. Merrett
N. R. Merrett
Affiliation:
Zoology Department, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Three latitudinally separated assemblages (49°–41°N, 38°–30°N, 22°–20°N in 11°–25°W) of abyssal demersal fishes in the eastern North Atlantic have been identified from combined data from 13 new and 12 previously reported trawl samples. The northerly assemblage remained unaltered by the new data, but the intermediate one could be sub-divided into shallow (4370–4475 m) and deep (4835–5440 m) elements. This sub-division revealed that bathymetry was acting with latitude to influence previous results. The new, southerly, assemblage was found below surface waters enriched by upwelling along the continental margin. The composition of dominant species identified each assemblage. The biological characteristics of these species were largely consistent with the former hypothesis linking them to the influence of the overlying production regime. The contrast between this preliminary evidence for structured demersal fish assemblages in the abyss with its lack on the slope and rise was discussed in the terms of the respective patterns of trophic input.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 72 , Issue 1 , February 1992 , pp. 5 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, M.E.Crabtree, R.E.Carter, H.J.Sulak, K.J. & Richardson, M.D. 1985. Distribution of demersal fishes of the Caribbean Sea found below 2,000 meters. Bulletin of Marine Science, 37, 794–807.Google Scholar
Angel, M.V. 1991. Variations in time and space: is biogeography relevant to studies of long-time scale change? Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 71, 191–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Angel, M.V. & Baker, A. de C. 1982. Vertical distribution of the standing crop of plankton and micronekton at three stations in the northeast Atlantic. Biological Oceanography, 2, 1–30.Google Scholar
Berger, W.H. 1989. Appendix. Global maps of ocean productivity. In Productivity of the ocean: present and past (ed. Berger, W.H. et al.), pp. 429–455. Chichester: Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Desbruyères, D.Geistdoerfer, P.Ingram, C.L.Khripounoff, A. & Lagardere, J.P. 1985. Repartition des populations de l'epibenthos carnivore. In Peuplements profonds du Golfe de Gascogne Campagnes Biogas (ed. Laubier, L. & Monniot, C.), pp. 233–251. Brest: Ifremer.Google Scholar
Gordon, J.D.M. & Duncan, J. A.R. 1987. Deep-sea bottom-living fishes at two repeat stations at 2200 and 2900 m in the Rockall Trough, northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Marine Biology, 96, 309–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, J.D.M. & Mauchline, J. 1990. Depth-related trends in diet of a deep-sea bottom-living fish assemblage of the Rockall Trough. In Trophic relationships in the marine environment. Proceedings of the 24th European Marine Biological Symposium (ed. Barnes, M. and Gibson, R.N.), pp. 439–452. Aberdeen: University press.Google Scholar
Haedrich, R.L. & Krefft, G. 1978. Distribution of bottom fishes in the Denmark Strait and Irminger Sea. Deep-Sea Research, 25, 705–720.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haedrich, R.L. & Merrett, N.R. 1988. Summary atlas of deep-living demersal fishes in the North Atlantic Basin. Journal of Natural History, 22,1325–1362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haedrich, R.L. & Merrett, N.R. 1990. Little evidence for faunal zonation or communities in the deep sea. Progress in Oceanography, 24, 239–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haedrich, R.L. & Polloni, P.T. 1976. A contribution to the life history of a small rattail fish, Coryphaenoides carapinus. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences, 75, 203–211.Google Scholar
Hempel, G. 1982. The Canary Current: studies of an upwelling system. Introduction. Rapports et Procès-verbaux des Réunions. Conseil Permanent International pour l'Exploration de la Mer.Copenhague, 180, 7–8.Google Scholar
Holligan, P.M. & Groom, S.B. 1986. Phytoplankton distributions along the shelf break. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh B, 88, 239–263.Google Scholar
Huthnance, J.M. 1986. The Rockall slope current and shelf-edge processes. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh B, 88, 83–101.Google Scholar
Isaacs, J.D. & Schwartzlose, R. A. 1975. Active animals of the deep-sea floor. Scientific American, 233, 84–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohn, A.J. & Riggs, A.C. 1982. Sample size dependence in measures of proportional similarity. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 9,147–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindsey, C.C. 1966. Body sizes of poikilotherm vertebrates at different latitudes. Evolution, 20, 456–465.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marshall, N.B. & Merrett, N.R. 1977. The existence of a benthopelagic fauna in the deep sea. DeepSea Research, 24, supplement, 483–497.Google Scholar
Mauchline, J & Gordon, J.D.M. 1984. Diets and bathymetric distributions of the macrourid fish of the Rockall Trough, northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Marine Biology, 81, 107–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merrett, N.R. 1987. A zone of faunal change in assemblages of abyssal demersal fish in the eastern North Atlantic: a response to seasonally in production? Biological Oceanography, 5, 137–151.Google Scholar
Merrett, N.R. & Domanski, P.A. 1985. Observations on the ecology of deep-sea bottom-living fishes collected off northwest Africa. II. The Moroccan slope (27°–34°N), with special reference to Synaphobranchus kaupi. Biological Oceanography, 3, 349–399.Google Scholar
Merrett, N.R.Gordon, J.D.M.Stehmann, M & Haedrich, R.L. 1991a. Deep demersal fish assemblage structure in the Porcupine Seabight (eastern North Atlantic): slope sampling by three different trawls compared. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 71, 329–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merrett, N.R.Haedrich, R.L.Gordon, J.D.M. & Stehmann, M. 1991b. Deep demersal fish assemblage structure in the Porcupine Seabight (eastern North Atlantic): results of single warp trawling at lower slope to abyssal soundings. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 71, 359–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merrett, N.R. & Marshall, N.B. 1981. Observations on the ecology of deep-sea bottom-living fishes collected off northwest Africa (08°–27°N). Progress in Oceanography, 9, 185–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Middleton, R.W. & Musick, J.A. 1986. The abundance and distribution of the family Macrouridae (Pisces: Gadiformes) in the Norfolk Canyon area. Fishery Bulletin. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the Unites States, 84, 35–62.Google Scholar
Mittelstaedt, E. 1991. The ocean boundary along the northwest African Coast: circulation and oceanographic properties at the sea surface. Progress in Oceanography, 26, 307–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nichols, J. & Rowe, G.T. 1977. Infaunal macrobenthos off Cap Blanc, Spanish Sahara. Journal of Marine Research, 35, 525–536.Google Scholar
Nybelin, O. 1957. Deep-sea bottom-fishes. Report of the Swedish Deep Sea Expedition, 2, Zoology (20), 247–345.Google Scholar
Pianka, E.R. 1970. On r- and k-selection. American Naturalist, 104, 592–597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Postel, L. 1985. The pelagic cross-shelf and alongshore boundaries of the north west African upwelling region and their annual variability in terms of zooplankton biomass. In Simposio internacional sobre las areas de afloramiento mas importantes del oeste Africano (Cabo Blanco y Benguela), vol. 1 (ed. Bas, C. et ah), pp. 479–487. Barcelona: Instituto de Investigaciones Pesqueras.Google Scholar
Priede, I.G.Bagley, P.M.Armstrong, J.D.Smith, K.L. Jr, & Merrett, N.R. 1991. Direct measurement of active dispersal of food-falls by deep-sea demersal fishes. Nature, London, 351, 647–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Priede, I.G.Smith, K.L. Jr, & Armstrong, J.D. 1990. Foraging behavior of abyssal grenadier fish: inferences from acoustic tagging and tracking in the north Pacific Ocean. Deep-Sea Research, 37, 81–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rice, A.L.Billett, D.S.M.Thurston, M.H. & Lampitt, R.S. 1991. The Institute of Oceanographic Sciences biology programme in the Porcupine Seabight: background and general introduction. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 71, 281–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, M.K.Bauer, R.A. & Schroeder, E.H. 1979. Atlas of the north Atlantic - Indian Ocean monthly mean temperatures and mean salinities of the surface layer. St Louis, Mississippi: US Naval Oceanographic Office, RP–18.Google Scholar
Smith, K.L. Jr, 1978. Metabolism of the abyssopelagic rattail Coryphaenoides armatus measured in situ. Nature, London, 274, 362–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sulak, K. 1982. A comparative taxonomic and ecological analysis of temperate and tropical demersal deepsea fish faunas in the western North Atlantic. PhD thesis, University of Miami.Google Scholar
Thiel, H. 1979. Structural aspects of the deep-sea benthos. Ambio, Special Report no. 6, 25–31.Google Scholar
Thiel, H. 1982. Zoobenthos of the Cineca area and other upwelling regions. Rapports et Procesverbaux des Reunions. Conseil Permanent Internationae pour I'Exploration de la Mer. Copenhague, 180, 323–334.Google Scholar
Walsh, J.J.Rowe, G.T.Iverson, R.L. & McRoy, C.P. 1981. Biological export of shelf carbon is a sink of the global COcycle. Nature, London, 291, 196–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whittaker, R.H. & Fairbanks, C.W. 1958. A study of plankton copepod communities in the Columbia Basin, southeastern Washington. Ecology, 39, 46–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, R.R. Jr, & Waples, R.S. 1983. Distribution, morphology and biochemical genetics of Coryphaenoides armatus and C. yaquinae (Pisces: Macrouridae) in the central and eastern North Pacific. Deep-Sea Research, 30A, 1127–1145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, R.R. Jr, & Waples, R.S. 1984. Electrophoretic and biometric variability in the abyssal grenadier Coryphaenoides armatus of the western North Atlantic, eastern South Pacific and eastern North Pacific Oceans. Marine Biology, 80, 227–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar