Abstract
This study analyzes the fauna composition of the community of brittle and sea stars associated with sponge aggregations located in Avilés Canyons System and El Cachucho, Marine Protected Area (MPA). Diverse sampling methods were used depending on bottom morphology, such as rock dredges and specific samplers for sedimentary bottoms, mainly beam trawl models. These banks are made up of sponge and coral species that build a very appropriate substrate for the proliferation of benthic species, which together create Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems that are highly relevant for management and conservation. Among these benthic species, echinoderms are of great interest due to their value as indicators of good habitat. In total, 1261 specimens were collected (934 brittle stars and 327 starfishes), belonging to 42 species (28 ophiuroids and 14 asteroids) from INDEMARES AVILÉS, ECOMARG, and SponGES project surveys. Specimens were distributed among four sponge aggregations (F: fields) that were considered according to the sponge records obtained in the same stations (36). These fields were defined and named based on the five most common sponge species:Aphrocallistes beatrixandRegadrella phoenix(F1: Avilés Canyon);Pheronema carpenteri(F2: Intraslope basin of Le Danois Bank);Asconema setubalense(F3: Le Danois Bank); andNeoschrammeniellaaff.bowerbankii(F4: Corbiro Canyon). Faunistic results show thatOphiactis abyssicola(55.55% occurrence),Brisinga endecacnemos, Ophiolycus purpureus, andPeltaster placenta(33.33%) were the most frequently found species in F1;Psilaster andromeda(80%),Pseudarchaster parelii(60%), andNymphaster arenatus(46.67%) in F2;Ophiura carnea(71.43%) andOphiacantha smitti(42.86%) in F3; andOphiacantha densa, andHenricia caudani(100%) in F4. The asteroid and ophiuroid species collected seem to be composed of four different communities that fit to areas with particular morphological and biological features, related to the presence of species specialized in the use of the resources they can find there. In general, the abiotic factor controlling this structure is depth. This assemblage structure, which favors the dissimilarity between the canyons and the bank, is not so clear, since the deepest stations are located on the intraslope basin of El Cachucho, Marine Protected Area (MPA), therefore, using ita prioricould lead to misunderstandings. Once the structure of the echinoderm community was known, we compared the expected and obtained results to analyze evidence which should prove the existence of any association between echinoderms and sponges, which enabled us to refute the incongruous hypothesis.
Highlights
IntroductionThe benthic fauna of the Avilés Canyon System and the El Cachucho, Marine Protected Area (MPA) have been studied from a systematic point of view (mostly in Altuna, 2013; Altuna and Ríos, 2014; Manjón-Cabeza et al, 2014b; GarcíaGuillén et al, 2018; Taboada et al, 2019), and under a general ecosystem approach (Sánchez et al, 2008, 2009, 2014a), providing a complete analysis of habitat scene for management and conservation
The benthic fauna of the Avilés Canyon System and the El Cachucho, Marine Protected Area (MPA) have been studied from a systematic point of view, and under a general ecosystem approach (Sánchez et al, 2008, 2009, 2014a), providing a complete analysis of habitat scene for management and conservation
To ascertain whether there exists any link between asteroids and ophiuroids and sponge aggregations on sea beds, we proposed the following hypotheses (Figure 1): 1 sponge aggregations present different specific compositions, there is not enough evidence to consider that the asteroid/ophiuroid community in canyons is different from on El Cachucho, Marine Protected Area (MPA) (Figures 1A,C). 2 These echinoderm species distributions will enable us to define four different echinoderm assemblages related to each sponge field (Figure 1B). 3 There are two different taxocoenosis, one in the canyons, and another on El Cachucho, Marine Protected Area (MPA) (Figure 1D)
Summary
The benthic fauna of the Avilés Canyon System and the El Cachucho, Marine Protected Area (MPA) have been studied from a systematic point of view (mostly in Altuna, 2013; Altuna and Ríos, 2014; Manjón-Cabeza et al, 2014b; GarcíaGuillén et al, 2018; Taboada et al, 2019), and under a general ecosystem approach (Sánchez et al, 2008, 2009, 2014a), providing a complete analysis of habitat scene for management and conservation. The importance of considering the association between these three groups is considerable, and all these previous studies provide us with a unique opportunity to carry out different kinds of analysis Many of these bottoms are made up of sponge and coral species that build a very appropriate substrate for the proliferation of other benthic species. Echinoderms are of high interest, mostly because of their inherent needs in order to survive (Murillo et al, 2012; Manjón-Cabeza et al, 2014a,b; Andrino-Abelaira, 2015; Gómez-Delgado, 2015; Murillo, 2015; Palma-Sevilla, 2015; Hurtado-García, 2016; Moya, 2016; Mah, 2020), or they are found to be associated to specific communities, leading them to be indicators of good habitat
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