Deep-sea sipunculans from the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench and adjacent abyssal plain

Abstract

Deep-sea sipunculans collected during the expedition to the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench and adjacent abyssal plain are described and illustrated using differential interference contrast microscopy (DIC) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Specimens were sorted from brown silt collected by giant boxcorer (GKG), epibenthic sledge (EBS) and Agassiz trawl (AGT) from the depths 4830–5780m. Within about 150 valid species of sipunculans only 15 have been known to be abyssal and six of them were found and identified in this KURAMBIO expedition. Eight species of sipunculans have been previously recorded from the Kuril-Kamchatka region but all of them were described based on preserved museum׳s material collected by bottom dredge and these descriptions are far from to be complete and comparable with other samplings. All KURAMBIO species are described according to a unified protocol to illustrate the most important taxonomic characters. This is the first description and illustrating of abyssal sipunculans in live condition with natural coloration of non-preserved specimens. Abyssal species were for a first time described with SEM facilities and according to a standardized protocol. For a first time for abyssal sipunculans, species accounts also include quantitative characteristics, distribution and specific biotope data. Nephasoma abyssorum is reported for the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench and adjacent abyssal plain for a first time.