Natural physical d~s t u r b a n c e s have been s h o w n to b e rmportant ~n Ihe organizdtion of a variety of terrestrial a n d marine communitics. Some workers h a v e suggested that disturbance may play a similar role in soft-bottom ~n f a u n a communities. A consequence of such a view is t h e expectation that some species will become unusually abuntlant early in t h e recolon~zation of a disturbed patch, reflecting thtbir d e p e n d e n c e on disturhsd localities for their persistence in t h e local community. I h a v e reviewed tlic. literature on soft-bottom communrtles a n d h a v e shown that s o m e specles become unusually a b u n d a n t early in the recovrl-y of a d~s t u r b e d patch. T h e time course of t h e response of these species varies from hours to months, appdrently reflecting differences in life-history strategies. However, it is not clear that these species dre responding to a relsdse of resources caused by t h e absence of their cornpetitors a s predicted. T h e s e species may be responding to a resource provided by the disturbance without reference to compet~tors. Although present models provide a useful conceptual framework, a rigorous theory of how disturbance functions in soft-bottom comm~rnities has not emerged.

A 1-km 2 area located 2 km off the Florida Panhandle (30 22 6 N; 86 38 7 W) was selected as the site to conduct high-frequency acoustic seafloor penetration, sediment propagation, and bottom scattering experiments [1]. Side scan, multibeam, and normal incidence chirp acoustic surveys as well Manuscript

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The bathyal kinorhynch fauna along the Northwest American continental rise is explored, with emphasis on species of Echinoderidae Zelinka, 1894. Seven species of Echinoderes Claparède, 1863 are described as new to science: E. anniae sp. nov., E. dubiosus sp. nov., E. hamiltonorum sp. nov., E. hviidarum sp. nov., E. juliae sp. nov., E. lupherorum sp. nov. and E. yamasakii sp. nov. Three known species, Echinoderes hakaiensis Herranz, Yangel & Leander, 2017, E. cf. unispinosus Yamasaki, Neuhaus & George, 2018 and Fissuroderes higginsi Neuhaus & Blasche, 2006, are reported. The numerous new species indicate that the deep-sea still holds a great, undiscovered diversity of kinorhynchs, and that Echinoderes, as is also the case in more shallow, coastal waters, represents an important component of the deep-sea kinorhynch fauna. The presence of E. hakaiensis in the deep-sea sediments demonstrates that the species may occur at a great depth range, and suggests that depth may play a less important role for the distribution of some kinorhynch species. The finding of the Northeast Atlantic species E. cf. unispinosus and the Southwest Pacific species Fissuroderes higginsi could indicate that kinorhynch species in the deep-sea may cover considerably larger distributional ranges than is assumed for coastal species of Echinoderidae.