The benthic community of the Great Meteor Bank

No abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.

This qualitative study is part of an interdisciplinary analysis of the ecology of the Great Meteor Seamount and it will answer the basic questions of composition and origin of the invertebrate faunal community. During the cruise M42/3 in the subtropical north Atlantic to the 'Great Meteor Bank' in 1998 a variety of benthic sampling gear was employed on 48 stations. Only the macrobenthic invertebrates were part of this study. In total 155 species from 18 different major invertebrate taxa have been identified. For 66 of these species it was the first record on the Seamount, 19 had already been known, nine of the species are endemic on the Bank. Six species are entirely new to science. The dominating North-East-Atlantic faunal elements (64%), the low number of African elements (30%) and of endemic species (6%) contradict the general acceptance that the seamount's ecology is determined by a faunal community which evolved through isolation. Vagile, as well as sessile life forms, filter feeders, suspension feeders, carnivores and grazer were found at an approximately equal ratio. This hints at a food supply that does not support any kind of specialists. The reason for this faunal community is the location of the seamount in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre and in the center of the drain of the Mediterranean water, as well as the presence of other islands and seamounts in that region. The water masses continuously transport invertebrate larvae from the shelf sea either directly, or indirectly - over the seamounts and islands - to the bank. These larvae colonize the seamount und build up a stable population.