High resolution study of the spatial distributions of abyssal fishes by autonomous underwater vehicle.
High resolution study of the spatial distributions of abyssal fishes by autonomous underwater vehicle.
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DOI：
10.1038/srep26095
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发表时间：
2016-05-16
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Bailey DM
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Milligan RJ;Morris KJ;Bett BJ;Durden JM;Jones DO;Robert K;Ruhl HA;Bailey DM
在深海平原上，底层鱼被认为在海底以及在远洋和底栖生物之间传递能量方面发挥着重要作用。然而，人们对它们的空间分布知之甚少，因此很难量化它们的生态意义。为了解决这个问题，我们聘请了一台自动潜航器，对豪猪深海平原(东北大西洋，4850 米水深)上的鱼类分布进行了非常大型的摄影调查，调查范围包括一座小深海丘陵(海拔240 m)上和附近的两个空间尺度(1-10 平方公里)。总鱼类区系的空间分布和两种优势形态类型(Coryphaenoidessp.1和深沟梭鱼)似乎是随机的，这一结果与通常的预期相反，但与之前对这些鱼的预测一致。我们估计深海平原的总鱼类密度为723条千米−2(95%可信区间：601-844)。这一估计比拖网渔获量和诱饵摄像技术先前的估计值(分别为152和188千米−2)更高，而且可能更精确。我们没有发现深海丘陵和平原之间鱼类密度的显著差异，也没有发现任何证据表明在所评估的任何空间尺度上存在鱼类聚集。
On abyssal plains, demersal fish are believed to play an important role in transferring energy across the seafloor and between the pelagic and benthic realms. However, little is known about their spatial distributions, making it difficult to quantify their ecological significance. To address this, we employed an autonomous underwater vehicle to conduct an exceptionally large photographic survey of fish distributions on the Porcupine Abyssal Plain (NE Atlantic, 4850 m water depth) encompassing two spatial scales (1–10 km2) on and adjacent to a small abyssal hill (240 m elevation). The spatial distributions of the total fish fauna and that of the two dominant morphotypes (Coryphaenoides sp. 1 and C. profundicolus) appeared to be random, a result contrary to common expectation but consistent with previous predictions for these fishes. We estimated total fish density on the abyssal plain to be 723 individuals km−2 (95% CI: 601–844). This estimate is higher, and likely more precise, than prior estimates from trawl catch and baited camera techniques (152 and 188 individuals km−2 respectively). We detected no significant difference in fish density between abyssal hill and plain, nor did we detect any evidence for the existence of fish aggregations at any spatial scale assessed.