Amundsen Sea Mollusca from the BIOPEARL II expedition

By

Moreau, Camille
Linse, Katrin
Griffiths, Huw
Barnes, David K. A. (David Keith Alan)
Kaiser, Stefanie
Glover, Adrian G.
Sands, Chester
Strugnell, Jan
Enderlein, Peter
Geissler, Paul

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2013

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

294

Pages

1-8

Subjects

Amundsen Sea , Antarctica , Aplacophora , BIOPEARL II , Bivalvia , Gastropoda , Mollusca , Monoplacophora , Polyplacophora , Scaphopoda

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.294.4796

 

Abstract

Information regarding the molluscs in this dataset is based on the epibenthic sledge (EBS) samples collected during the cruise BIOPEARL II / JR179 RRS James Clark Ross in the austral summer 2008. A total of 35 epibenthic sledge deployments have been performed at five locations in the Amundsen Sea at Pine Island Bay (PIB) and the Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE) at depths ranging from 476 to 3501m. This presents a unique and important collection for the Antarctic benthic biodiversity assessment as the Amundsen Sea remains one of the least known regions in Antarctica. Indeed the work presented in this dataset is based on the first benthic samples collected with an EBS in the Amundsen Sea. However we assume that the data represented are an underestimation of the real fauna present in the Amundsen Sea. In total 9261 specimens belonging to 6 classes 55 families and 97 morphospecies were collected. The pecies richness per station varied between 6 and 43. Gastropoda were most species rich 50 species followed by Bivalvia (37), Aplacophora (5), Scaphopoda (3) and one from each of Polyplacophora and Monoplacophora.