Abstract
Seamounts are drowned volcanoes rising from abyssal depths. Fishes on seamounts exploit a range of landscape features that likely enhance probabilities of prey capture and reduce predator success. The epifaunal community on seamounts is dominated by suspension-feeders of which deep-water corals are a dominant element. Such taxa are widespread components of seamount landscapes but their functional role in mediating the distribution and abundance of fishes remains unknown. Here we propose a hierarchical habitat classification matrix, which includes deep-water corals, as a foundation for partitioning seamount landscapes in which fishes are observed. This scheme is based on our observations of fish distributions from the New England Seamounts, as well as literature review. Features of an idealized seamount landscape were divided at multiple spatial scales and included features at habitat class, subclass and microhabitat levels. Habitat classes were divided by major sediment types (i.e., basalt, fine grained sediments). Habitat subclasses included pavement, ridges, walls, ledges and tubes for basalt substrates and flat sediment, ripples and waves for fine-grained sediments. Microhabitat features were classified as flow related features, emergent structures (i.e., geologic and biologic including deep-water corals), and other biogenic structures (e.g., coral debris, depressions, burrows). Variations in the distribution of structures at multiple spatial scales can influence boundary flows and the ability of fishes to search for prey (e.g., where active searching by swimming can occur, where pelagic prey delivery is sufficient when station-keeping) and avoid predators (e.g., the ability to efficiently exhibit various avoidance behaviors such as shelter seeking). Placing fish abundance data in such a matrix of habitat types enables a variety of statistical approaches for testing for non-random distributions of fishes on seamounts and quantifying the functional role of corals as fish habitat.
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Auster, P.J., Moore, J., Heinonen, K.B., Watling, L. (2005). A habitat classification scheme for seamount landscapes: assessing the functional role of deep-water corals as fish habitat. In: Freiwald, A., Roberts, J.M. (eds) Cold-Water Corals and Ecosystems. Erlangen Earth Conference Series. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-27673-4_40
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-27673-4_40
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