Bathymetric patterns of megafaunal assemblages from the arctic deep-sea observatory HAUSGARTEN

Five photographic transects, covering some 830 m2 of seafloor in total, were analyzed to characterize the megabenthic community along a bathymetric gradient covering water depths from 1200 to 5500 m in the eastern Fram Strait. Megafaunal densities ranged between 11 and 38 ind. m−2. The highest densities were found at 1650 m and the lowest densities occurred at 3000 m depth. The number of taxa and morphotypes ranged between 4 at 5500 m and 27 at 1650 m water depth. Ophiocten gracilis, a small white unidentified amphipod, Kolga hyalina, and Bathycrinus carpenteri were the dominant and characteristic species on the slope and continental rise. Elpidia heckeri dominated in the Molloy Hole, the deepest depression known in the Arctic Ocean. Megafaunal zonation patterns appeared to be mainly controlled by food availability, as indicated by phytodetrital matter measured at the seafloor, and by benthic biomass in the sediments, as indicated by sediment-bound particulate proteins and phospholipids. By contrast, physical factors, including water depth and seabed properties such as sediment porosity and hard substrata (e.g., dropstones), appear to play a secondary role in determining megabenthic zonation patterns along the bathymetric HAUSGARTEN gradient.