Kuril–Kamchatka deep sea revisited – insights into the amphipod abyssal fauna

During the KuramBIO expedition to the Kuril–Kamchatka Trench and abyssal plain, benthic samples from the depths from 4987 to 5422 m were collected using a camera-epibenthic sledge. In this collection more than 1200 individuals of Amphipoda were found. They were assigned to 60 taxa (including 47 morphospecies) and 21 families. Until now 28 species being new to science have been found: six in the superfamily Eusiroidea and in the Oedicerotidae and Synopiidae families, four in the Phoxocephalidae, three in the Pardaliscidae, two in the Stenothoidae and one in the Pachynidae. The Synopiidae, Stenothoidae and Pachynidae were recorded for the first time in North-West Pacific area. The dominant and most speciose families were Oedicerotidae, Phoxocephalidae, Synopiidae, Eusiridae s.l. and Lysianassidae. The cluster analysis clearly separated the shallowest sample from the others, which were divided further into two groups. The shallowest sample was characterized by the highest number of species and number of individuals.