Whittard Canyon in Northeast Atlantic

Zoobenthos taxonomic abundance

Unconsolidated sediment corers

Macrofauna and polychaete species abundance data were obtained from replicate megacore samples collected from inside the Whittard Canyon (N.E. Atlantic) and the adjacent slope to the west of the canyon during cruise JC036 in June and July 2009. Four sites were sampled, three in the Whittard Canyon branches (Western, Central and Eastern) and one site on the slope to the west of the canyon. Five deployments were conducted in the Western branch, six in the Central and Eastern branches and five at the slope site. One extra deployment was made in the Central and Eastern branches to compensate for the failure to recover sufficient cores. All sites were located at 3500 m depth. Samples were collected using a Megacorer fitted with eight large (100 mm internal diameter) core tubes. Core slices from the same sediment layer from one deployment were pooled to make one replicate sample. The number of cores pooled per deployment ranged from 3 to 7 and the area of seabed sampled varied accordingly. The top three sediment horizons (i.e. 0–1, 1–3 and 3–5 cm), were analysed in toto. Macrofauna were identified to higher taxa levels, and polychaetes to species level and counts of species/taxa recorded for each site. AphiaIDs have been assigned to the samples - where identification was only possible to genus or family level, the aphiaIDs for genus and family have been supplied. The supplied aphaIDs are those that were acceptable at the time of the analysis and not their more recent superseding terms. This cruise was part of the HERMIONE project and the data formed the basis of L. Gunton's PhD thesis 'Deep-Sea Macrofaunal Biodiversity of the Whittard Canyon (NE Atlantic)'.

Gunton, L.M., Gooday,A.J., Glover,A.G., Bett,B.J. (2015) Macrofaunal abundance and community composition at lower bathyal depths in different branches of the Whittard Canyon and on the adjacent slope (3500 m; NE Atlantic), Deep Sea Research Part 1. Vol 97

British Oceanographic Data Centre
Joseph Proudman Building 6 Brownlow Street
Liverpool
Merseyside
L3 5DA
United Kingdom