A Multi-Year Survey of Meiofaunal Abundance From the Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Shelf and Slope

Abstract

This 3-yr (2007-09) survey documented meiofauna abundance across the northern Gulf of Mexico on the continental shelf and slope from south Texas to south Florida. Sediment samples were collected from depths ranging from 29 to 509 m (average = 132 m) on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admistration ship Gordon Gunter during the annual fall small pelagics fish-sampling cruise. A total of 259 sediment samples from 99 ShipekH grabs were analyzed. Meiofauna were isolated from the sediment by sieving (63-mm sieve) and concentrating the organisms via LudoxH centrifugation. Each year the two dominant animal groups were nematodes and copepods, followed by polychaetes, nauplii, kinorhynchs, priapulid loricate larvae, tardigrades, and Acari. Spearman correlations indicated that abundances of nematodes, copepods, polychaetes, and nauplii were positively related, and that all meiofauna groups decreased in abundance with increasing longitude (farther west). Abiotic variables such as salinity, temperature, and depth did not correlate with any meiofauna group. Distribution maps of the animals indicated a clear geographic trend that was supported statistically, in that the animal groups were more concentrated in Florida samples rather than the central and western continental shelf.

First records of marine tardigrades of the genus Coronarctus (Tardigrada, Heterotardigrada, Arthrotardigrada) from Mexico

“…Generally, tardigrades are not a dominant component of the meiofauna and the abundance of marine tardigrade taxa is typically low within samples (Jørgensen et al 2010;Fontoura et al 2017). In the Gulf of Mexico deep-sea, Tardigrada is also consistently reported as a minor contributor to meiofaunal community composition (Baguley et al 2006;Landers et al 2012;Reuscher et al 2017;Cisterna-Céliz et al 2019). Additionally, Romano et al (2011) reported a low average abundance of tardigrades per positive sample (1.5 specimens/100 cm 3 sample).…”

“…While several deep-sea studies in this region have included Tardigrada in phylum level compositional analyses of meiofaunal communities (e.g. Baguley et al 2006;Landers et al 2012;Reuscher et al 2017;Cisterna-Céliz et al 2019), these did not include identifications at lower taxonomic levels. Thus far, only 15 tardigrade taxa have been recorded from the Gulf of Mexico (Romano 2009 and references therein;Romano et al 2011;Santos et al 2019).…”

Sediment Chemistry and Meiofauna from the Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Shelf

“…Raw data from a three-year (2007-2009) meiofauna study by Landers et al [49] was reexamined to focus only on those locations within the same longitudinal range as in the current study. This examination revealed a mean of 85 nematodes/10 cm 2 and 6 copepods/10 cm 2 , while the current study reports 159 nematodes/10 cm 2 and 11 copepods/10 cm 2 .…”

Two new species of Echinoderes (Kinorhyncha: Cyclorhagida) from the Gulf of Mexico

“…Shirley (2009) furthermore cites a personal communication of John Fleeger, who reports the finding of an Echinoderes species resembling Echinoderes coulli at near-shore localities in Louisiana. In 2007 an extensive meiofauna survey was initiated in the northern Gulf of Mexico (Landers et al, 2012). From 2007From -2009 meiofauna were collected on National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research vessels along the United States' continental shelf from Mexico to the Florida Keys.…”