Habitat partitioning of dominant high Antarctic demersal fish in the Weddell Sea and Lazarev Sea

Abstract

Using underwater photography twelve, structural habitat characteristics of the six most abundant demersal high Antarctic fish species were investigated. Two categories of relationships beween fishes and benthos were found: (1) Trematomus lepidorhinus (Pappenheim) and T. loennbergi (Regan) preferred rich epibenthic communities dominated by sessile suspension feeders. The fish used this three-dimensional structure to both settle on and to hide in. (2) Prionodraco evansii (Regan), Dolloidraco longedorsalis (Rhoule) and Trematomus scotti (Boulenger) occurred mostly in areas free of stones and biogenous debris and with generally less epifauna. For Chionodraco myersi (Dewitt and Tyler), no significant link with the benthic habitat was found; it seemed to have an intermediate position between the groups mentioned above.