Abstract
In order to enhance the understanding of Pacific Colombia’s deep-water marine fauna, a benthic research cruise (2012 TUM Offshore 6 and 7) was conducted off the coast of the Department of Nariño, in southern Colombia. Biological, oceanographic and sediment samples from the continental shelf and slope were collected at depths between 350 and 941 m. A new species of Malletia obtained on that cruise is described and compared with other species from the eastern Pacific. Sixteen species of bivalve mollusks (belonging to 12 families and 15 genera) were identified. Five of them were the first records for Pacific Colombia (Jupiterialobula, Limatulasaturna, Lucinomaheroica, Cuspidariapanamensis, and Dallicordiaalaskana). Four of them had geographic distributions that now extend to Tumaco at the southern end of Nariño.
Highlights
Throughout the past decade, the search for hydrocarbon and natural gas reserves in Colombia (Pacific and Caribbean coast) has sparked an interest in the country’s remote deep-sea regions
The specimens were sorted into 16 species, 15 genera, and 12 families; five species were new observations in the Colombian Pacific
We have included an illustration for all newly documented species in Colombia i.e., those other than Nucula iphigenia, Orthoyoldia panamensis and Delectopecten zacae which were previously reported for the Pacific of Colombia by Gracia and Valentich-Scott (2014)
Summary
Throughout the past decade, the search for hydrocarbon and natural gas reserves in Colombia (Pacific and Caribbean coast) has sparked an interest in the country’s remote deep-sea regions. This has resulted in intensified deep-sea baseline studies, primarily along the continental shelves and slopes. Deep-sea studies face logistical and cost limitations, including the availability of research vessels and proper equipment for collecting samples. Despite the increase in knowledge during recent years, the presently known range of many invertebrates groups inhabiting soft sediments, including mollusks, is still fairly fragmentary in remotes parts of the Colombian Pacific. The true biodiversity of the Pacific Colombian deep-sea must be vastly underestimated
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