Journal
ZOOTAXA
Volume 4567, Issue 2, Pages 293-325Publisher
MAGNOLIA PRESS
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4567.2.5
Keywords
sea cucumber; Holothuroidea; echinoderms; biodiversity; bathymetry; Cantabrian Sea; Bay of Biscay; Iberian Peninsula
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Funding
- project DOSMARES (Proyecto Canones y taludes profundos en los Mares Cantabrico y Mediterraneo) [CTM2010-21810-C03-02]
- Hidrolectrica del Cantabrico S.A.
- University of Oviedo [RES-14-CI-058]
- Severo Ochoa fellowship from the Principado de Asturias
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Here we report on the holothurian fauna at the Aviles Canyon System (Natura 2000 Site of Community Importance), central Cantabrian Sea, northern Spain. The samples were collected during several cruises covering the shelf, the continental slope and the abyssal depth. We identified 174 specimens, belonging to 35 species of the seven orders of class Holothuroidea. Depth was the main structuring agent. Multivariate analysis allowed the differentiation of four main assemblages which corresponded to abyssal plain, lower continental slope, upper continental slope, and continental shelf. Depth had a significant effect on holothurian species richness (it increased with depth at an approximate rate of 1.7 species 1000 m(-1)), which is consistent with previously described global patterns.
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