Demersal Continental Shelf and Upper Slope Cephalopod Assemblages from the Balearic Sea (North-Western Mediterranean). Biological Aspects of Some Deep-Sea Species

By A. Quetglas, A. Carbonell, P. Sánchez. 2000

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Abstract The analysis of 79 hauls performed by commercial bottom trawlers from 50 to 800 m depth in the Balearic Sea (north-western Mediterranean) from June 1995 to September 1996 yielded a total of 30 cephalopod species belonging to 12 families. Cluster analysis of these data gave as a result two main groups 50–200 m and 200–800 m each subdivided into two other groups (50–100 vs. 100–200 m and 200–600 vs. 600–800 m). These results suggested the existence of two assemblages that could be associated to the continental shelf (50–100 m) and the upper slope (600–800 m) separated by a wide transitional zone (100–600 m) representing a region of overlapping shelf and slope faunas (ecotone). The faunistic bathymetric gradient showed a continuous substitution of species with depth rather than discrete assemblages separated by distinct boundaries. The more coastal species such as Eledone moschata, Loligo vulgarisSepia officinalis and Octopus vulgaris were found on the continental shelf; on the transitional zone, apart from species characteristic of this zone (Illex coindetii, Sepietta oweniana, Rossia macrosoma, Scaeurgus unicirrhus and Pteroctopus tetracirrhus), we also observed species from both the continental shelf and slope. The upper slope was characterized by typical species of deeper waters, such asBathypolypus sponsalis , Histioteuthis reversa, H. bonnellii, Ancistroteuthis lichtensteinii andOnychoteuthis banksii . The octopod O. vulgaris was the dominant species on the continental shelf and upper transitional zone, being substituted by T. sagittatus on the lower transitional zone and upper slope. Mean biomass decreased abruptly from the continental shelf to the transitional zone and from there to the upper slope. Mean species richness and species diversity were higher in the transitional zone than in the continental shelf and upper slope. Finally, some biological aspects of the more abundant deep-sea cephalopod species are studied: Bathypolypus sponsalis, Octopus salutii,Pteroctopus tetracirrhus , Histioteuthis reversa and H. bonnellii.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Global and Planetary Change, Oceanography

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/dd87fe56e41bf6b245516bb9541eadaf342c5b69

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Citations in the corpus

Modelling sperm whale habitat preference: a novel approach combining transect and follow data (2011, result): “Depth might be associated with the bathymetric zonation of cephalopod assemblages (Quetglas et al. 2000), and a comparable range has been identified by other studies both within the Mediterranean (e.g. Cañadas et al. 2002 in the Alboran Sea) and outside the basin (e.g. Davis et al. 2002 in the Gulf…”
Demersal resource assemblages in the trawl fishing grounds off the Balearic Islands (western Mediterranean) (2005, background): “In the same study area, the bathymetric segregation of different assemblages has already been demonstrated for different taxonomic groups (Massutí et al., 1996; Quetglas et al., 2000).”
A review of cephalopod–environment interactions in European Seas (2008, background): “In the Balearic Sea, there are two main cephalopod assemblages that are associated with the continental shelf (50–100 m) and the upper slope (600–800 m) respectively, separated by a wide transitional zone (100–600 m) (Quetglas et al., 2000).”
Habitat use and preferences of cetaceans along the continental slope and the adjacent pelagic waters in the western Ligurian Sea (2008, result): “This is consistent with the hypothesis that they feed mostly on meso- and bathy-pelagic cephalopods, usually found in steep slope areas (Riedl, 1991; Quetglás et al., 2000).”