Nematode abundance at the oxygen minimum zone in the Arabian Sea

• Published in: Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography
• Main Authors: Cook, A.A., Lambshead, P.J.D., Hawkins, L.E., Mitchell, N., Levin, L.A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2000
• Subjects: Porcupine Seabight; Northeast Atlantic
• Online Access: https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/8864/

This paper supports the hypothesis that low oxygen does not influence deep-sea nematode abundance by investigating an oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) on the Oman slope in the Arabian Sea. Correlation with a number of environmental variables indicated that food quality (measured as the hydrogen index) rather than oxygen was the major predictor of nematode abundance. Nematode abundance was also positively correlated with abundance of total macrofauna, annelids, spionid polychaetes and macrofaunal tube builders. Comparison with published data showed Arabian Sea nematode abundance to be similar to that of the Porcupine Seabight and Bay of Biscay regions of the northeast Atlantic, which also receive significant quantities of phytodetritus but have no OMZ.