Infaunal macrobenthos in the Porcupine Bank (NE Atlantic)

• Main Authors: Parra-Descalzo, S. (Santiago), Valencia-Vila, J. (Joaquín), Lourido-Soto, A. (Antía), Fernández-Feijoo, J. (Juan), Vázquez-Vázquez, M.C. (María del Carmen), Velasco, F. (Francisco), Baldó, F. (Francisco)
• Format: Still Image
• Language: English
• Published: Centro Oceanográfico de A Coruña 2016
• Subjects: Macrobenthos; infauna; Porcupine Bank; Hake; Northeast Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10508/10511; http://hdl.handle.net/10261/316674; https://doi.org/10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.05.00105

The results of the macroinfaunal communities distributions from the annual series surveys PORCUPINE are shown. Those surveys were realized during the months of September and October in the years 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 by the Instituto Español de Oceanografía aboard the R /V Vizconde de Eza, within the research project ERDEM. This survey series has as main objective the obtainment of abundance indexes of the benthonic and demersal fauna from Porcupine Bank, west of Ireland, with special attention on the commercial species exploited by the Spanish fleet (hake, angler fish, megrim and norwegian lobster). For the study of the infaunal macrobenthos a total of 50 samples were analyzed from selected places of the Bank, where the bottom characteristics, the climatology or the survey schedule allowed. Samples were taken with an ULSNER box corer with 0.09 m2 of sampling area. Samples for the faunal study were sieved aboard with a 0.5 mm mesh size sieve. The material collected in the sieve was preserved with 8 % formaldehyde neutralized with borax, and stained with Rose Bengal solution for the posterior sorting and identification of fauna. Additional samples were taken to estimate the organic content of the sediment and to perform the granulometric analyses. Once in the laboratory, the granulometry was analyzed following the method recommended by Buchanan (1984); which consists in a combination of dry sieving of the coarse fraction (> 62 µm) and the sedimentation at 20 ºC of the fine fraction (< 62 µm) in a distilled water column. Sediment organic matter content was calculated as the percentage of weight loss by means of 24 hours sample calcination at 500 ºC, after dried it at 100 ºC during the same time. Complementary, in order to obtain a better coverage of the sedimentary types from the study area, more than 350 samples were collected with a net collector coupled to the trawling fishing gear (Baca-GAV 39/52). Globally, the sediments of the majority of the sampled stations are mainly formed by ...