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Macro- and megabenthic communities in the high Arctic Canada Basin: initial findings

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Abstract

We investigated the macro- and megabenthos of the Canada Basin, one of the biologically least known areas of the Arctic deep sea. Macro-infauna was collected with 11 box cores at six stations ranging from 640 to 3,250 m water depth. Total abundance ranged from 3 to 265 individuals 0.04 m−2 (75–6,625 individuals m−2) and decreased with increasing depth. Biomass ranged from 0.04 to 228 mg wet weight 0.04 m−2 (1–5,700 mg wet weight m−2) and followed the same trend. Polychaetes, crustaceans and bivalves dominated the faunal densities, biomass and species numbers. At Northwind Ridge (800 and 1,800 m), apparently historic (~5,000 years BP) fish otolith deposits were abundant. The invertebrate epi-megafauna was qualitatively analyzed from 9.2 h of video and 853 still images collected at four remotely operated vehicle stations. The epifauna was dominated by polychaetes, crustaceans, echinoderms, cnidarians and fish, with most suspension-feeders occurring in the Northwind Ridge area. A total of 90 benthic invertebrate species/taxa from four biogeographic affinities were identified, including at least three new species of Isopoda. The evident low abundances and biomass are in agreement with findings from the Eurasian Arctic deep sea.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to the crew, captain and chief scientist of the Louis S. St. Laurent during its 2002–23 cruise. We are indebted to the taxonomists listed in the Materials and methods section for their expertise and time and to Cédric d’Udekem d’Acoz, University of Tromsø, K.v. Juterzenka, Alfred-Wegener-Institute Bremerhaven and to scientists at the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC, for helping identify specimens on the ROV imagery. The fish otoliths were kindly analyzed for fish species and fish age by R. Wastle and J. Babaluk (DFO Canada, Winnipeg). We thank Ken Grabowski and Rick Coffin at the Naval Research Program, Washington DC for determining the age of three otoliths. Richard Arena, Texas A&M University, assisted with the analysis of the benthic images. We appreciate the comments by three anonymous reviewers who helped improve the manuscript. This work was part of a project funded through NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration, grant no. NA16RP2627.

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  1. School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, Institute of Marine Science, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 245 O’Neill Building, P.O. Box 757220, Fairbanks, AK, 99775-7220, USA

    B. A. Bluhm, C. Debenham & K. Iken

  2. Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, 6300 Ocean Dr. ST320, Corpus Christi, TX, 78412, USA

    I. R. MacDonald

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  1. B. A. Bluhm
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Bluhm, B., MacDonald, I., Debenham, C. et al. Macro- and megabenthic communities in the high Arctic Canada Basin: initial findings. Polar Biol 28, 218–231 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-004-0675-4

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