28. 



fish, rattails and the eel Synaphobranohus kaupij and numerous 

 sponges which are attached to the glacial erratics. These 

 glacial erratics also provide hard substrate for the attach- 

 ment of several species of coral, the most common one being 

 the gorgonian Aaanthogovgia armata. The fauna of the east 

 flank is dominated by two taxa, sponges and shrimp. A 

 number of corals, two species restricted to hard substrates, 

 are also found in this region namely Aoanthogorgia armata and 

 Paramuricea grandis. The faunal components found on both the 

 west and east walls along the axis are shrimp and the same 

 two corals A. armata and P. grandis. The fauna in the deeper 

 part of the axis is mainly composed of two trophic types, the 

 deposit feeding brittle star Ophiomusium lymani and the filter 

 feeding sea pen Pennatula aauleata. Between 1100 to 1600 meters 

 in the axis of Oceanographer Canyon the fauna is heavily 

 dominated by rattails and the eel Synaphobranohus kaupi . The 

 consistently higher proportion of sessile filter-feeders, 

 namely corals and sponges, found in Oceanographer Canyon 

 directly reflects the greater exposure of hard substrates in 

 this canyon. 



In some areas of Oceanographer Canyon the camera tracks 

 were very close to ALVIN dive tracks. This allows comparisons 

 to be made between the two methods of surveying epibenthic 

 fauna. Data from these dives were presented for 50-meter 

 depth intervals in the historical survey. For comparative 



