Patterns of distribution of deepwater demersal fishes of the North Atlantic mid-ocean ridge, continental slopes, islands and seamounts

Abstract

Basin-scale spatial and depth-related distribution patterns of deepwater demersal fishes were analysed using bottom trawl datasets from the North Atlantic continental margin, slopes of oceanic islands and seamounts, and the mid-Atlantic Ridge. Depth-stratified presence-absence data for 593 species were compiled from fisheries-independent trawl studies with full species lists. The datasets comprised trawls conducted on the upper continental slope (200m) to abyssal depths, and 750m wide depth strata were used. Number of species and families declined with depth in all areas. Species number was highest in the western North Atlantic, significantly lower on the mid-Atlantic Ridge and eastern North Atlantic. Observed species numbers are also low in southern areas (Bahamas, NW Africa, southerly seamounts), but the sampling effort in these waters has been much less than in northern sites. Fish assemblages vary by depth, latitude and longitude, and the study corroborates earlier suggestions that assemblages are broadly distributed in relation to regional circulation and watermass features. The mid-Atlantic Ridge assemblages between Iceland and the Azores are most similar to those on eastern North Atlantic slopes and rises, rather dissimilar to all others, including western Atlantic, Greenland, northwest Africa and Azorean seamount and island assemblages. Across the North Atlantic differences between subareas are strongest at slope depths, much less pronounced at the less speciose rise and abyssal depths. Demersal fish biomass estimates suggest that the American slope (New England) has low biomass compared with Newfoundland and European areas, and that the supposedly oligotrophic mid-Atlantic Ridge has a level of biomass similar to or higher than the European margin.