29. 



purposes this data is presented on Fig. 11 for 100-meter 

 depth intervals and is marked by a star adjacent to the 

 circles. In the flat narrow axis both methods gave similar 

 results, namely a high concentration of echinoderms below 

 1600 meters. On the west wall the two methods gave somewhat 

 different results. The submersible coverage reflected con- 

 sistently higher concentrations of corals. A more detailed 

 comparison of the two methods is discussed in a later section 

 of this report. 



In general these results are consistent with the trends 

 of faunal components of canyon assemblages identified in the 

 historical survey, namely a variety of trophic types composing 

 the fauna found throughout the depth range studied, with 

 significantly more sessile filter-feeders in the middle depth 

 range. This is in contrast to the sole predominance of fish 

 and the crab Geryon quinquedens at these depths on the slope. 

 The higher exposure of hard substrate and greater flux of 

 particulate nutrients in canyons are probably the primary 

 factors accounting for this difference between canyon and 

 slope fauna. 



Community analysis 



To delineate faunal assemblages within the canyons studied 

 two methods of community analysis were used, clustering based 

 on species similarity and principal components analysis. 



