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Recent investigations of demersal fish communities in deep (less than 50 m) rugged habitats have considerably increased our knowledge of the factors that influence the assemblage structure of fishes across mesophotic to deep-sea depths. Although habitat types influence deepwater fish distribution, whether different rugged seafloor features provide functionally equivalent habitat for fishes is poorly understood. In the northeastern Caribbean, numerous rugged seafloor features (e.g., seamounts, banks, canyons) punctuate insular margins, and thus create a remarkable setting in which to examine demersal fish communities across various seafloor features. Also in this region, several water masses are vertically layered...
Categories: Data;
Types: Citation;
Tags: Anegada Passage,
Caribbean,
Community structure,
Deep sea,
Habitat associations, All tags...
Mesophotic,
Puerto Rico,
Seamounts,
USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC),
Vertical distribtion,
Water mass, Fewer tags
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Cold-water corals create complex structures, but our incomplete knowledge of their niche space limits our ability to understand their distribution and therefore the impact of the ecosystem services they provide in the ocean. The Richardson reef complex consists of over 150 km of linear reef tracts within an area of 75 km2 between 700-900 m depth. This reef experiences rapid shifts in temperature, and currents approaching 1 meter per second. The reef fauna cycle and sequester carbon and regenerate nutrients that help fuel the primary productivity of the region. Newly acquired multibeam sonar mapping data and predictive models indicate that cold-water coral reefs are more widespread than previously understood, necessitating...
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