Zonation of deep-sea decapod fauna in the Catalan Sea (Western Mediterranean)

Abstract

Zonation of deep-sea decapod crustacean fauna was established in the Catalan Sea (Western Mediterranean) based on a total of 66 bottom trawls carried out between 552 and 2261 m depth. An OTSB-14 bottom trawl was used as sampling gear. The main boundaries were located at 1200 to 1300 m and around 1900 to 2000 m. The 1200 to 1300 m boundary separates the decapod communities dwelling on the middle and lower slopes. The most important causes of decapod zonation in the Mediterranean are more closely linked to trophic factors, in view of the fact that basic hydrographic parameters (temperature, salinity) remain constant along the entire slope. In the Catalan Sea impoverlshment of the organic matter content in the bottom sediment with depth and resuspension associated with the steeper portions of the slope (i.e. submarine canyons) are probably the most important factors responsible for the changes recorded. These factors may be directly responsible for the near absence of a variety of organisms that are highly abundant components of the endofauna on the middle slope but disappear below 1200 m. The limits of influence of different macroplanktonic groups (euphausiids, mesopelagic fishes) in the diet of benthic decapods also coincided with the observed boundaries between decapod communities.

Moult activity-related spawning success in the Mediterranean deep-water shrimp Aristeus antennatus (Decapoda:Dendrobranchiata)

“…Samples of 'gamba' shrimp Aristeus antennatus were obtained from catches of commercial bottom trawls (36 mm mesh size, 18 mm side) during the day, in order to restrict the sampling to the main boundary of this species which is located near the bottom of the middle slope at daylight (Cartes & Sarda 1993). Specimens were collected along the Catalan coast, Spain (northwestern Mediterranean) in 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1989.…”

Deep-sea distribution, biological and ecological aspects of <i>Aristeus antennatus</i> ( Risso, 1816) in the western and central Mediterranean Sea

“…Its distribution ranges between 100 and 150 m and nearly 1000 m in the western Ionian Sea (south Italy, Tursi, 1996;Relini et al, 2000), down to 800 in the eastern Ionian (Papaconstantinou and Kapiris, 2001;Mytilineou et al, 2001) and between 900 and 1000 m off Catalonia (Tobar and Sardà, 1987;Demestre and Martín, 1993;Sardà et al, 1998a;Tudela et al, 2003). However, experimental catches of this species (Sardà and Cartes 1993;Sardà, 1992, 1993) have been made to a depth of 2250 m. This broad depth distribution range for this species has led to a number of hypotheses concerning its ecology and possible relationships between the exploited populations on the upper and middle slope and the non-exploited populations dwelling deeper on the lower slope (Sardà et al, 2003b). In addition, it has raised the need to establish the full depth distribution range for this species, for two reasons: first, to be able to improve the assessment of the resource over its entire habitat and second, to improve the basic knowledge on reproduction and recruitment, which might differ with depth and location.…”

“…During the last ten years a variety of aspects of Aristeus antennatus (Risso, 1816) have been studied in detail in the western and central Mediterranean Sea, such as fisheries (Demestre and Lleonart, 1993;Demestre and Martín, 1993;Bianchini and Ragonese, 1994;Martínez-Baños, 1997;Sardà et al, 1998a;García-Rodríguez and Esteban, 1999;Carbonell, et al, 1999Carbonell, et al, , 2003Ragonese et al, 2001;Mytilineou et al, 2001;Papaconstantinou and Kapiris, 2001;Cau et al, 2002;Tudela et al, 2003), biology (Matarrese et al, 1992Sardà and Cartes, 1993;Ragonese and Bianchini, 1996;Mura et al, 1997;Follesa et al, 1998;Orsi Relini and Relini, 1998;Sardà et al, 1998b;Kapiris et al, 2002;García-Rodríguez, 2003), ecology (Sardà et al,1994;Sardà and Cartes, 1997;D'Onghia et al, 1997;Cartes and Maynou, 1998;Mura et al, 1998;Kapiris et al, 1999), and physiology (Company and Sardà, 1998;Puig et al, 2001). A number of research projects have been carried out on this species recently (RESHIO, COCTEL, DESEAS, INTERREG II, MEDITS, MEDBARI, MED-AQUA...).…”

Body fish size tendencies within and among species in the deep-sea of the western Mediterranean

“…Depth-related zonation of dominant megafaunal groups has been described for many deep-sea areas (Haedrich et al, 1980;Merrett and Marshall, 1981;Koslow, 1993), including the Mediterranean Sea (Cartes and Sardà, 1993;Stefanescu et al, 1993;Moranta et al, 1998). The depth gradient has been repeatedly reported as the main factor affecting species distribution in demersal fish communities (e.g.…”