Deep biological communities in the subduction zone of Japan from bottom photographs taken during “nautile” dives in the Kaiko project

Abstract

Twenty-seven dives of the submersible “Nautile” in the subduction zone around Japan conducted in the French-Japanese Project Kaiko proved that fairly luxuriant benthic communities dominated by deep-sea giant clams of the genus Calyptogena (family Vesicomyidae) were consistently present on the accretionary prism at abyssal depths. Benthic communities characterized by three hitherto undescribed bivalves of the genus Calyptogena were found between depths of about 3800 and 4020 m at the mouth of Tenryu Canyon and at the top of basement swell of the Zenisu Ridge, both situated in the eastern Nankai subduction zone. Sporadic but discrete patches of organisms characterized by one more undescribed bivalve belonging to the genus Calyptogena were observed and collected between depths of 5130 and 5960 m on the landward wall of the Japan and Kouriles Trenches. Photographic inventories were prepared semiquantitatively using each series of bottom photographs taken in these areas with bow cameras of the submersible “Nautile”. Observations on the sporadic but dense distribution of the clams and other characteristic associated organisms match well with the scheme that communities sustained by chemosynthetic energy sources can be present at connate water seepages in subduction zones. These are to date the deepest record of benthic communities supposedly associated with chemosynthetic processes.