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Bathymetric distribution and diversity of deep water polychaetous annelids in the Sigsbee Basin, northwestern Gulf of Mexico

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Advances in Polychaete Research

Part of the book series: Developments in Hydrobiology ((DIHY,volume 170))

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Abstract

The deep water polychaete fauna is analyzed in this study particularly regarding its composition and variations with depth in the Sigsbee Basin, northwestern region of the Gulf of Mexico. Samples were taken at 10 stations along a bathymetric gradient with depth ranges from 200 to 3760 m with a USNEL (0.25 m2) corer. A total of 287 individuals were identified, from 21 families and 65 species. The most important families, both in terms of abundance and species richness, were: Paraonidae (65.4 ind./0.25 m2, 9 spp.), Cirratulidae (28.93 ind./0.25 m2, 7 spp.) and Spionidae (18.07 ind./0.25 m2, 7 spp.). In general, density tended to decrease with depth with minima at around 2000 m, although two abundance peaks were detected at 3700 and 3760 m, making the pattern seem an inverted parabolic curve. The Shannon-Wiener diversity values varied from 0.54–0.92 at around 2000 m to 3.39 at 3620 m and 3.34 at 3760 m. These results contrast with what is already reported from the North Atlantic and the Tropical Pacific deep benthic communities, where highest diversities are found at 2000 m. Faunal changes evaluated through Beta Diversity (0.08–0.1) and the low similarity found between the stations, emphasized the high variability in the composition of the fauna in the Sigsee Basin, meaning that the faunal composition is practically different at all the sampling stations. Ten species are newly recorded for the Mexican fauna.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Ecología Costera, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N Ciudad Universitaria. Apdo., Postal 70-305, México, D. F., C. P. 04510, México

    Alma Yazmín Pérez-Mendoza, Pablo Hernández-Alcántara & Vivianne Solís-Weiss

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  1. Alma Yazmín Pérez-Mendoza
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  2. Pablo Hernández-Alcántara
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  3. Vivianne Solís-Weiss
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Correspondence to Vivianne Solís-Weiss .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Icelandic Institute and Museum of Natural History, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Elín Sigvaldadóttir  & Guðmundur Guðmundsson  & 

  2. National Museum of Wales, Cardifff, Wales, UK

    Andrew S. Y. Mackie

  3. Institute of Biology, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Guðmundur V. Helgason  & Jörundur Svavarsson  & 

  4. Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Long Beach, USA

    Donald J. Reish

  5. Marine Research Institute, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Sigmar A. Steingrímsson

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Pérez-Mendoza, A.Y., Hernández-Alcántara, P., Solís-Weiss, V. (2003). Bathymetric distribution and diversity of deep water polychaetous annelids in the Sigsbee Basin, northwestern Gulf of Mexico. In: Sigvaldadóttir, E., et al. Advances in Polychaete Research. Developments in Hydrobiology, vol 170. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0655-1_35

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0655-1_35

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