Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T22:12:55.116Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Growth and size-structure of Stegophiura sp. (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) on the continental slope off central Chile: a comparison between cold seep and non-seep sites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2009

Eduardo Quiroga  and
Javier Sellanes
Eduardo Quiroga*
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigación en Ecosistemas de la Patagonia (CIEP), Bilbao 449, Coyhaique, Chile
Javier Sellanes
Affiliation:
Universidad Católica del Norte, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Departamento de Biología Marina, Larrondo 1281, Coquimbo, Chile Centro de Investigación Oceanográfica en el Pacífico Sur-Oriental (COPAS), Departamento de Oceanografía, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: E. Quiroga, Centro de Investigación en Ecosistemas de la Patagonia (CIEP), Bilbao 449, Coyhaique, Chile email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The growth and size-structure of the bathyal ophiuroid brittle star, Stegophiura sp., were analysed from skeletal growth bands and disc diameter frequencies. Specimens were collected in trawl samples taken on the continental slope off central Chile (~36°S) at two sites within the recently discovered Concepción Methane Seep Area (CMSA) and at two control non-seep sites. Growth bands were measured as radii of vertebral ossicles from scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs and used to provide size-at-age data. The von Bertalanffy and the Gompertz growth models provided good fit to size-at-age data. The size-structure distributions observed in the study area suggest that small-bodied (<10 mm disc diameter) individuals of Stegophiura sp. are more abundant near seep sites, probably attracted there by the presence of methane-derived authigenic carbonates, which provide a preferred habitat for ophiuroids and benthic fauna in general. Furthermore, size-at-age data from measurements of the ossicle growth bands indicate relatively rapid growth of Stegophiura sp. populations at seep sites. Assuming that the growth rings are annual, the maximum Stegophiura sp. age was estimated to be 15 years. The growth performance of this species falls within the range of values reported for sub-Antarctic and bathyal species.

Keywords

bathyal ophiuroidcold seepgrowthChile
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 89 , Issue 2 , March 2009 , pp. 421 - 428
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bluhm, B., Piepenburg, D. and von Juerzenka, K. (1998) Distribution, standing stock, growth, mortality and production of Stronglycentrotus pallidus (Echinodermata: Echinoidea) in the northern Barents Sea. Polar Biology 20, 325–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brey, T. (1998) Growth performance and mortality in aquatic macrobenthic invertebrates. Advances in Marine Biology 35, 153–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brey, T. (2001) Population dynamics in benthic invertebrates. A virtual handbook. Version 01.2. http://www.thomas-brey.de/science/virtualhandbookGoogle Scholar
Carney, R.S. (1994) Consideration of the oasis analogy for chemosynthetic communities at Gulf of Mexico hydrocarbon vents. Geo-Marine Letters 14, 149–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coffin, R., Gardner, J., Diaz, J. and Sellanes, J. (2006) Gas hydrate exploration, mid Chilean coast; geochemical–geophysical survey. NRL/MR/6110-06-9006. Technical report, pp. 61. Available at: http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA461588.Google Scholar
Dahm, C. (1993) Growth, production and ecological significance of Ophiura albida and O. ophiura (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) in the German Bight. Marine Biology 116, 431–437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahm, C. (1996) Ökologie und Populationsdynamik antarktischer Ophiuroiden (Echinodermata). Berichte zur Polarforschung 194, 1–289.Google Scholar
Dahm, C. (1999) Ophiuroids (Echinodermata) of southern Chile and the Antarctic: taxonomy, biomass, diet and growth of dominant species. Scientia Marina 63, 427–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahm, C. and Brey, T. (1998) Determination of growth and age of slow growing brittle stars (Echinodermata: ophiuroidea) from natural growth bands. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 78, 941–951.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gage, J.D. (1990) Skeletal growth bands in brittle stars: microstructure and significance as age markers. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 70, 209–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gage, J.D. (2003) Growth and production of Ophiecten gracilis (Ophiuroidea: Echinodermata) on the Scottish continental slope. Marine Biology 143, 85–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gage, J.D. and Tyler, P.A. (1981) Re-appraisal of age composition, growth and survivorship of the deep-sea brittle star Ophiura ljungmani from size structure in a sample time series from the Rockall Trough. Marine Biology 64, 163–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gage, J.D. and Tyler, P.A. (1982) Depth-related gradient in size structure and the bathymetric zonation of deep-sea brittle stars. Marine Biology 71, 299–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gage, J.D., Anderson, R.M., Tyler, P.A., Chapman, R. and Dolan, E. (2004) Growth, reproduction and possible recruitment variability in the abyssal brittle star Ophiecten hastatum (Ophiuroidea: Echinodermata) in the NE Atlantic. Deep-Sea Research I 51, 849–864.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
George, C.L. and Warwick, R.M. (1985) Annual macrofauna production in a hard-bottom reef community. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 65, 713–736.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lara de Castro, C., Gallardo, V.A. and Quiroga, E. (in preparation) The Ophiuroidea (Echinodermata) of the deep-waters from the Chilean cost. Gayana.Google Scholar
Levin, L.A. (2005) Ecology of cold seep sediments: interactions of fauna with flow, chemistry and microbes. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 43, 1–46.Google Scholar
Morales, E. (2003) Methane hydrates in the Chilean continental margin. Biotechnology Issues for Developing Countries 6, 80–84.Google Scholar
Moreau, J., Bambino, C. and Pauly, D. (1986) Indices of overall growth performance of 100 tilapia (Cichlidae) populations. In Maclean, J.L., Dizon, L.B. and Hosillos, L.V. (eds) The first Asian fisheries forum. Manila, Philippines: Asian Fisheries Society, Manila, pp. 201–206.Google Scholar
Morrison, G.W. (1979) Studies on the ecology of the sub-Antarctic ophiuroid Ophionotus hexactis (E. A. Smith). Master of Philosophy thesis. University of London, 213 pp.Google Scholar
Munday, B.W. and Keegan, B.F. (1992) Population dynamics of Amphiura chiajei (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) in Killary Harbour, on the west coast of Ireland. Marine Biology 114, 595–605.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olu, K., Duperret, A., Sibuet, M., Foucher, J.P. and Fiala-Medioni, A. (1996) Structure and distribution of cold seep communities along the Peruvian active margin: relationship to geological and fluid patterns. Marine Ecology Progress Series 132, 109–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palma, M., Quiroga, E., Gallardo, V.A., Arntz, W., Gerdes, D., Schneider, W. and Hebbeln, D. (2005) Macrobenthic animal assemblages of the continental margin off Chile (22° to 42°S). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 85, 233–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quiroga, E., Sellanes, J., Gerdes, D., Arntz, W., Gallardo, V.A. and Hebbeln, D. (in press) Demersal fish and megafaunal assemblages of three bathyal areas off Chile (22°–42°S). Deep-sea Research II.Google Scholar
Schöne, B.R. and Giere, O. (2005) Growth pattern and shell isotope ratios of the deep-sea hydrothermal vent bivalve mollusk Bathymodiolus brevior from the North Fiji Basin, Pacific Ocean. Deep-Sea Research I 52, 1896–1910.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sellanes, J. and Krylova, E. (2005) A new species of Calyptogena (Bivalvia, Vesicomyidae) from a recently discovered methane seepage area off Concepción Bay, Chile (~36°S). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 85, 969–976.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sellanes, J., Quiroga, E. and Gallardo, V.A. (2004) First direct evidences of methane seepage and associated chemosynthetic communities in the bathyal zone off Chile. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 84, 1065–1066.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sellanes, J., Quiroga, E. and Neira, C. (2008) Megafaunal community structure and trophic relationships of the recently discovered Concepción Methane Seep Area (Chile, ~36°S). ICES Journal of Marine Sciences 65. Advance access published 19 June 2008. doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsn099CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sibuet, M. and Olu-LeRoy, K. (2002) Cold seep communities on continental margins: structure and quantitative distribution relative to geological and fluid venting patterns. In Wefer, G., Billett, D., Hebbeln, D., Joergensen, B.B., Schlüter, M. and Van Weering, T.C.E. (eds) Ocean margin systems. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp. 235–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stöhr, S. and Segonzac, M. (2005) Deep-sea ophiuroids (Echinodermata) from reducing and non-reducing environments in the North Atlantic Ocean. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 85, 383–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Dover, C.L., Aharon, P., Berhard, J.M., Caylor, E., Doerries, M., Flickinger, W., Gilhooly, W., Goffredi, S.K., Knick, K.E., Macko, S.A., Rapoport, S., Raulfs, E.C., Ruppel, C., Salerno, J.L., Seitz, R.D., Sen Gupta, B.K., Shank, T., Turnipseed, M. and Vrijenhoek, R. (2003) Blake Ridge methane seeps: characterization of a soft-sediment, chemosynthetically based ecosystem. Deep-Sea Research I 50, 281–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warwick, R.M. and George, C.L. (1980) Annual macrofauna production in an Abra community. In Collins, M.B., Banner, F.T., Tyler, P.A., Wakefield, S.J. and James, A.E. (eds) Industrialized embayments and their environmental problems. A case study of Swansea Bay. Oxford: Pergamon, pp. 517–538.Google Scholar
Warwick, R.M., George, C.L. and Davies, J.R. (1978) Annual macrofauna production in a Venus community. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 7, 215–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar