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The match between ocean circulation and zoogeography of epipelagic siphonophores around southern Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2002

Mark J. Gibbons
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville 7535, South Africa
Delphine Thibault-Botha
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville 7535, South Africa Present address: Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, PO Box 1346, Kane'ohe, 96744, Hawaii, USA

Abstract

Published and unpublished records of epipelagic calycophoran siphonophores from around southern Africa were examined for zoogeographic structure. There is a close match between prevailing patterns of surface ocean circulation and zoogeography, which while similar to previous studies of intertidal taxa and euphausiids, is different from them in some key details. Separate subtropical provinces are associated with both the Angola and Agulhas Currents, and the latter system has a marked influence on the composition of (warm-temperate) assemblages along the south coast of South Africa. The nearshore waters in the Benguela upwelling ecosystem (cold temperate) are distinct, but the Lüderitz upwelling cell does not appear to act as an internal boundary within the Benguela ecosystem, as has been previously noted for benthic communities. Species richness is greater in oceanic than coastal waters, and peaks in subtropical waters. High diversity is also noted offshore in the area between Capes Agulhas and Columbine, where water of Indian, Southern and Atlantic Ocean interact. Indicator species for each major water mass were tentatively identified.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2002 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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