Abundance of the bearded fireworm Hermodice carunculata (Polychaeta: Amphinomidae) increases across a euphotic-mesophotic depth gradient in the remote St. Peter and St. Paul’s Archipelago

Abstract

The bearded fireworm Hermodice carunculata (Pallas, 1766) (Polychaeta: Amphinomidae) is commonly found in tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic and Mediterranean (Yáñez-Rivera and Salazar-Vallejo, 2011;Ahrens et al., 2013). It is an important predator that limits the abundance, growth and distribution of several benthic reef organisms, mainly cnidarians such as firecorals (Millepora spp.), several scleractinians, octocorals, anemones and zoanthids (Lizama and