Assemblages of necrophagous animals off Enderby Land, East Antarctica

Abstract.

A hyperbenthic baited trap was deployed at three sites in Lützow-Holm Bay and off Enderby Land, Antarctica, in the 1993/1994 summer to investigate the species composition, distribution, and abundance of necrophagous animals. The trap consisted of four chambers, with a length of 100 cm and a diameter of 38 cm. The sample at the abyssal site, 3,186 m deep, contained 74 individuals of 6 species, completely different from that at the other 2 sites on the continental shelf; it was dominated by the large amphipod Eurythenes gryllus, a cosmopolitan species recorded from bathyal to abyssal depths. The species composition of the continental shelf sites, 93–137 individuals of 10–12 species, was dominated by species endemic to Antarctica, such as the small amphipod Pseudorchomene coatsi and the isopod Natatolana meridionalis; in these continental shelf sites, a high degree of species diversity was observed.