Intensive Sampling of the Gulf of Mexico Reveals a Global Hotspot of Meso- and Bathypelagic Fish Biodiversity
Journal: NSUWorks (Nova Southeastern University)
Year: 2017

The paucity of, and subsequent need for, biological data from the meso- and bathypelagic zones was highlighted after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The spill originated at 1500 m depth and prior to 2011 there was no inventory of the Gulf of Mexico bathypelagial (> 1000 m depth ) and that of the mesopelagial (200-1000 m) was largely limited to the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Intensive sampling and analysis since that time has revealed an exceptionally speciose oceanic fis