Deep-sea pelagic ichthyonekton diversity in the Atlantic Ocean and the adjacent sector of the Southern Ocean

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Species richness of pelagic deep-sea fishes was analysed for 66 stations. For local and regional richness latitudinal gradients were present, asymmetric between North and South Atlantic. Lowest values were indicated for the Antarctic stations. The analysis of localregional richness relationships indicated that assemblages were saturated. In support of the productivity-diversity hypothesis, a strong hump-shaped relationship to primary production was indicated. Regional effects on local richness were indicated in that a regionalisation in accordance to Merrett's (1987) hypothesis on the effect of seasonal productivity improved the model significantly. For regional richness, historical influences by means of the overlap between tropical and boreal faunas could not be precluded.