A new predator connecting the abyssal with the hadal in the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench, NW Pacific

• Published in: PeerJ
• Main Authors: Lörz, Anne-Nina, Jażdżewska, Anna Maria, Brandt, Angelika
• Other Authors: PTJ (German Ministry for Science and Education), BMBF, Polish National Science Centre
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PeerJ 2018
• Subjects: Kamchatka
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4887; https://peerj.com/articles/4887.pdf; https://peerj.com/articles/4887.xml; https://peerj.com/articles/4887.html

The bathyal to hadal deep sea of north-west Pacific Ocean was recently intensively sampled during four international expeditions (KuramBio I and II, SoJaBio and SokhoBio). A large amphipod, Rhachotropis saskia n. sp., was sampled in the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench and increases the number of described hadal species of that area to eight. A detailed description of the new species is provided, including illustrations, scanning-microscope images and molecular analysis. This predatory species was sampled at both continental and ocean abyssal margins of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench as well as at hadal depths of the trench. The wide bathymetric distribution of the new species over more than 3,000 m is confirmed by molecular analysis, indicating that the Kuril Kamchatka Trench is not a distribution barrier for this species. However, the molecular analysis indicated the presence of isolation by distance of the populations of the studied taxon.