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Density fluctuations of the ophiuroids Ophiothrix fragilis and Ophiocomina nigra in the Bay of Douarnenez, Brittany, France

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2013

Monique Guillou ,
Aline Blanchet-Aurigny  and
Edouard Le Goaster
Monique Guillou*
Affiliation:
Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Environnement Marin (LEMAR), Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, UMR CNRS IRD UBO 6439, 29280 Plouzane, France
Aline Blanchet-Aurigny
Affiliation:
IFREMER, Laboratoire d'Ecologie Benthique, Département Océanographie et Dynamique des Ecosystèmes, IFREMER, Centre de Brest, 29280 Plouzane, France
Edouard Le Goaster
Affiliation:
Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Environnement Marin (LEMAR), Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, UMR CNRS IRD UBO 6439, 29280 Plouzane, France IFREMER, Laboratoire d'Ecologie Benthique, Département Océanographie et Dynamique des Ecosystèmes, IFREMER, Centre de Brest, 29280 Plouzane, France
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: M. Guillou, Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Environnement Marin (LEMAR), Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, UMR CNRS IRD UBO 6439, 29280 Plouzane, France email: mguillou@univ-brest.fr
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Abstract

In the Bay of Douarnenez, in a reference area surveyed for echinoderms, the relative abundance of epifaunal ophiuroids (Ophiothrix fragilis and Ophiocomina nigra) was estimated by dredging and video surveys. Two surveys were undertaken in 2008 and 2011, following a protocol similar to that used in a long-term survey conducted in the 1980s. The data were then compared between the two periods. The present observations demonstrate a recolonization of this site by these ophiuroids, which had almost disappeared between 1983 and 1988. However, although the mean densities of Ophiothrix fragilis were similar to those found prior to this general ophiuroid decrease, Ophiocomina nigra densities were much greater. This latter species not only increased significantly in density and bottom coverage in the reference area, but also showed strong juvenile recruitments on maerl beds and colonization of other bottoms of the bay at very high densities according to a geostatistical analysis. Further studies would be necessary to establish whether or not there is a cause-and-effect relationship between the increase of green algae in the bay and the development of this opportunistic species.

Keywords

long term surveyophiuroidasteroidBrittany
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 6 , 2013 , e36
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2013

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