High definition video from a towed camera system was used to describe the deep-sea benthic habitats within an elongate depression located at the western margin of Rockall Bank in the Hatton–Rockall Basin. At depths greater than 1190 m, an extensive area (10 km long by 1.5 km wide) of what appeared to be reduced sediments, bacterial mats and flocculent matter indicated possible cold-seep habitat. Plumes of sediment-rich fluid were observed alongside raised elongate features that gave topographic relief to the otherwise flat seafloor. In the deepest section of the depression (1215 m) dense flocculent matter was observed suspended in the water column, in places obscuring the seabed. Away from the bacterial mats, the habitat changed rapidly to sediments dominated by tube-dwelling polychaete worms and then to deep-sea sedimentary habitats more typical for the water depth (sponges and burrowing megafauna in areas of gentle slopes, and coral gardens on steeper slopes).
A visual survey technique was employed to estimate the abundance and distribution of anglerfish Lophius spp. in areas where destructive sampling methods, such as trawling, are unacceptable. To enable visual surveying at depths of over 300 m, a deep towed vehicle was developed equipped with video, lights and other sensors and was towed at speeds of up to 1·5 m s⁻¹ and altitudes of up to 10 m (from the seabed) to survey large areas of the seabed around the Rockall Bank in the north-west Atlantic Ocean. The system allowed for areas up to 125 000 m² to be surveyed, a substantial area comparable to that surveyed by demersal-trawl sampling. Lophius spp. densities ranged from 15 to 736 fish km⁻²; these are comparable to estimated Lophius spp. densities determined by trawl surveys in adjacent areas. Estimates of Lophius spp. abundance in the closed areas ranged between 99,855 and 176,887 for the time series considered (2007-2011).
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.