Event Abstract

Back to Event

Holothurian diversity and distribution in the central Cantabrian Sea and the Avilés Canyon Systems (Bay of Biscay)

Irene Fernández Rodríguez1*, Andrés Arias Rodríguez1, José Luis Acuña Fernández1 and Nuria Anadón Álvarez1
  • 1 University of Oviedo, Department of Organisms and Systems Biology, Spain

The Avilés Canyon System (ACS) is a Marine Protected Area and a Site of Community Importance (SCI) included in the Natura 2000 Network, located in northern Iberia, in front of the coast of Asturias. It is a highly productive area with a great biodiversity (IEO 2014) and hosts some vulnerable habitats such as the deep-sea coral reefs and the sponge communities (Sánchez et al. 2014; Cristobo et al. 2009). Furthermore, the ACS harbours several species of commercial interest like hake, blue whiting or the Atlantic mackerel (IEO 2014). Overall, knowledge about holothurian diversity is rather scarce if compared with other groups of marine invertebrates. Here, we are presenting an inventory of the holothurian species obtained from the continental shelf, slope and bathyal zones of the Central Cantabrian Sea (COCACE project, 1987-88) and the slope, bathyal and abyssal areas of the Avilés Canyon Systems (BIOCANT project, 2012-13). We have examined 173 specimens belonging to 32 species of the five orders of the class Holothuroidea (Aspidochirotida, Dendrochirotida, Apodida, Molpadida and Elasipodida). The identification of the species was based on external morphological characters as well as on the observation of the microscopic calcareous ossicles, extracted from different parts of the holothurian body. The type of substrate and the bathymetry of the identified species were analyzed in order to characterise their distribution in the study area. Our results showed that both depth and type of substrate are key factors in the distribution of the species. The bathymetry determines groups of species and the type of substrate influences the occurrence of species at spatial scale (in areas of the same depth). Cluster analysis performed on the species presence/absence by station showed two major assemblages. One group comprised the bathyal and abyssal stations and the other continental shelf stations. Our results are consistent with the macrobenthic assemblages obtained by Louzao et al. (2010) for the Central Cantabrian Sea.

References

References:
Cristobo, J., Ríos, P., Sánchez, F., and Anadón, N. (2009). Redescription of the rare species Podospongia loveni (Porifera) from the Cantabrian Sea. Cont. Shelf Res. 29, 1157–1164.
Instituto Español de Oceanografía (2014). Caracterización ecológica del área marina del sistema de cañones submarinos de Avilés. Informe final área LIFE+ INDEMARES (LIFE07/NAT/E/000732). Instituto Español de Oceanografía. Coordinación: Fundación Biodiversidad, Madrid.
Louzao, M, Anadón, N., Arrontes, J., Álvarez-Claudio, C., Fuente, D.M., Ocharan, F., Anadón, A, and Acuña, J.L. (2010). Historical macrobenthic community assemblages in the Avilés Canyon, N Iberian. Shelf: Baseline biodiversity information for a marine protected area. J. Mar. Sys. 80, 47–56.
Sánchez, F., González-Pola, C., Druet, M., García-Alegre, A., Acosta, J., Cristobo Rodríguez, F.J., Parra Descalzo, S., Ríos, P., Altuna, A., Gómez-Ballesteros, M., Muñoz-Recio, A., Rivera, J., and Díaz del Río, G. (2014). Habitat characterization of deep-water coral reefs in La Gaviera canyon (Avilés Canyon System, Cantabrian Sea). Deep Sea Res. II 106, 118–140.

Keywords: echinoderms, Biodiversity, bathymetry, Cantabrian Sea, Iberian Peninsula.

Conference: XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies, Porto, Portugal, 5 Sep - 9 Sep, 2016.

Presentation Type: Oral Presentation

Topic: 1. ECOLOGY, BIODIVERSITY AND VULNERABLE ECOSYSTEMS

Citation: Fernández Rodríguez I, Arias Rodríguez A, Acuña Fernández J and Anadón Álvarez N (2016). Holothurian diversity and distribution in the central Cantabrian Sea and the Avilés Canyon Systems (Bay of Biscay). Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies. doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.05.00046

Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters.

The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated.

Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed.

For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions.

Received: 02 Sep 2016; Published Online: 02 Sep 2016.

* Correspondence: Miss. Irene Fernández Rodríguez, University of Oviedo, Department of Organisms and Systems Biology, Oviedo, Spain/Asturias, Spain, irefdezrguez@hotmail.com