Deep‐Sea Polychaetous Annelida from Central America to the Antarctic Peninsula and South Sandwich Islands
Authors: Maurer Don , Williams Susan 
Published: February 2007

Based on the 1958 Vema cruise and the 1965 Anton Bruun cruise 11 off the west coast of Central America and south through the islands east of the tip of South America, 143 trawl samples were examined for abyssal polychaetous annelida. The cruise tracks designated 7 major areas: Central America (1), Ecuador‐Peru (II), Central and Southern Chile (III), Chile and the Magellan Strait (IV), Tierra del Fuego (V), the Island Complex (Falkland, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands) (VI), the Drake Strait and Antarctic Peninsula (VII). The collections yielded 7,015 individuals and 322 species from 52 families. The relatively small number of species was attributed mainly to sampling effort, collecting gear and processing techniques.

Each major area was characterized in terms of the number of individuals, the number of species, mean number of individuals, mean number of species and mean H′, SR, J′ and DI. Species diversity was significantly higher in Central America (I) than in the other areas. The relationships between biotic and abiotic measures (depth and areas of upwelling) were examined. There were no significant associations for the entire data base with depth. Moreover, there was no association between abundance of polychaetes and areas of upwelling which was hypothesized. In fact, relative abundance was highest in the deepest portions of Central America (I) (Guatemala Basin) and Ecuador—Peru (II) (Milne—Edwards Deep) compared to shallower areas closer to areas of upwelling. Quantitative collecting gear and refined processing techniques will be required to more accurately address these relationships.

Dominant families were identified in terms of number of species and number of individuals. These families conformed well with world wide generalizations of dominant families. Dominant species were identified based on the Biological Index Value. The top twenty or dominant species for each major area were identified. A number of these dominant species occurred widely throughout the major areas. The dominant species for the entire data set were determined. In general these species were very eurybathic which was consistent with other worldwide depth distributions of abyssal polychaetes.

Based on biotic measures (mean number of species, mean H', SR, J′ and DI) and the Simpson and Dice similarity co‐efficients, several zoogeographic patterns emerged. The polychaete fauna from Central America (I) to southern Chile (II) formed a relatively homogeneous group. Polychaetes from Central America (I) had affinities with faunas studied off western Mexiko. The Chile and Magellan Strait (IV) area seemed to be a transition area which yielded to another relatively homogeneous fauna comprising areas V—VII. The latter fauna belonged to an Antarctic polychaete fauna which was documented earlier in other studies with a larger data base and more sophisticated analysis. It is hoped that the present study will help to provide a start to fill the zoogeographic gap of this enormous and bathymetrically diverse area.