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Deep-Sea Ecosystems Off Mauritania pp 277–315Cite as

An Overview on Bathyal Soft-Bottoms Megabenthos Off Mauritania

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Abstract

The composition and structure of megabenthic communities of bathyal soft-bottoms off Mauritania were analysed, based on data and material collected at 291 trawling stations accomplished during the four Maurit surveys carried out in November–December of 2007–2010. A total of 551,281 specimens with a corresponding wet weight of 2.2 tons were recorded and more than 700 species of benthic invertebrates belonging to 37 high-range taxa were identified. The best-represented group in terms of specific richness was Decapoda with 118 species, followed by Polychaeta , Porifera and Hydrozoa (74–63 species). In terms of biomass , Holothuroidea clearly dominates the megabenthic communities representing the 83% of the total, while in numerical abundance the dominance was shared by Decapoda (39%) and Holothuroidea (34%). The distribution of megabenthos showed latitudinal patterns along the Mauritanian coast, with a decreasing trend southwards for specific richness , Shannon and Pielou indexes , but with a reverse figure for abundance and biomass that reached their maximum values in the southern area. The bathymetric distribution showed a decreasing trend with depth only for Shannon and Pielou but species richness, abundance and biomass reached their highest values in deep waters. Multivariate analysis identified four megabenthic assemblages structured by depth. The giant coral mounds barrier together with the minimum oxygen values obtained at the same depths seems to perform the main faunistic discontinuity separating the shelf and upper slope assemblages from those located at middle and lower slope .

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express their sincere gratitude to Luis Miguel Agudo, for preparing the maps and to Uxía Tenreiro and Alexia Luiña, the friendly librarians of Oceanographic Centre of Vigo, whose effectiveness allows us to always have all the scientific literature necessary for our research . We wish to thank the referees Dr Marina da Cunha from University of Aveiro (Aveiro, Portugal) , and Dr Francisco Sánchez from Spanish Institute of Oceanography (Santander, Spain) for their comments and suggestions, which have improved considerably the original manuscript. We would also like express our sincere thanks to Carolin Ramil and Elena Guijarro for their support in reviewing the English version of the manuscript.

This work was undertaken within the framework of the EcoAfrik project and has been partially funded by the MAVA Fondation pour la Nature (MAVA contract 12/87 AO C4/2012). This is ECOAFRIK publication number 13.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade de Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, 36310, Vigo, Spain

    Fran Ramil

  2. Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Subida a Radio Faro, 50-52, 36390, Vigo, Spain

    Ana Ramos

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  1. Fran Ramil
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  2. Ana Ramos
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Correspondence to Fran Ramil .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Español de Oceanografía , Vigo, Spain

    Ana Ramos

  2. Facultade de Ciencias do Mar, Universidade de Vigo, Vigo, Spain

    Fran Ramil

  3. Instituto Español de Oceanografía , Madrid, Spain

    José Luis Sanz

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Ramil, F., Ramos, A. (2017). An Overview on Bathyal Soft-Bottoms Megabenthos Off Mauritania. In: Ramos, A., Ramil, F., Sanz, J. (eds) Deep-Sea Ecosystems Off Mauritania. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1023-5_7

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