Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-r5zm4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-22T12:57:46.219Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

An Antarctic shelf population of the deep-sea, Pacific brachiopod Neorhynchia strebeli

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2009

David K.A. Barnes
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OET
Lloyd S. Peck
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OET

Abstract

Thirty-five specimens of the articulate brachiopod Neorhynchia strebeli were collected from a site at 814 m in the Weddell Sea. This was only the second species of the order Rhynchonellida to be found in Antarctica. Formerly N. strebeli was known solely from abyssal Pacific Ocean localities. A circumantarctic distribution is suggested in addition to the known deep-sea Pacific range. The specimens of this collection showed considerable commissure variation, suggesting that the previously proposed erection of two subspecies on the basis of this character is erroneous, and emphasises the phenotypic plasticity of some articulate brachiopods. The valve lengths and the number of alpha growth rings in the sample showed a normal distribution and a von Bertalanffy growth function was fitted to the data: Lt = 23 (1-exp[-0·228t]). If the alpha growth rings were of annual periodicity, the ages attained by the Antarctic N. strebeli of 11 y would be substantially lower than those reported for other Weddell Sea brachiopods. The epibiotic communities occurring on the valves of N. strebeli were impoverished, which is characteristic of deep water Antarctic brachiopods. The few specimens collected with their substratum were attached to small pebbles, but the typical attachment substrata may be different.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1997

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

Barnes, D.K.A., 1995a. Sublittoral epifaunal communities at Signy Island, Antarctica. II. Below the ice-foot zone. Marine Biology, 121, 565572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, D.K.A., 1995b. Seasonal and annual growth in erect species of Antarctic bryozoans. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 188, 181198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, D.K.A. & Clarke, A., 1995a. Epibiotic communities on sublittoral macroinvertebrates at Signy Island, Antarctica. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 75, 689703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, D.K.A. & Clarke, A., 1995b. Seasonality of feeding activity in Antarctic suspension feeders. Polar Biology, 15, 335340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, D.K.A. & Peck, L.S., 1996. Epibiota and attachment substrata of deep-water brachiopods from Antarctica and New Zealand. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 351, 677687.Google Scholar
Brey, T. & Clarke, A., 1993. Population dynamics of marine benthic invertebrates in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic environments: are there unique adaptations? Antarctic Science, 5, 253266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brey, T., Peck, L.S., Gutt, J., Hain, S. & Arntz, W.E., 1995a. Population dynamics of Magellania fragilis, a brachiopod dominating a mixed-bottom macrobenthic assemblage on the Antarctic shelf. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 75, 857869.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brey, T., Pearse, J., Basch, L., McClintock, J. & Slattery, M., 1995b. Growth and production of Sterechinus neumayeri (Echinoidea: Echinodermata) in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Marine Biology, 124, 279292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bullivant, J.S., 1967. Ecology of the Ross Sea benthos. Memoirs. New Zealand Océanographie Institute, 32, 4975.Google Scholar
Clarke, A., 1988. Seasonality in the Antarctic marine environment. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 90B, 461–173.Google Scholar
Collins, M.J., 1991. Growth rate and substrate-related mortality of a benthic brachiopod population. Lethaia, 24, 111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crapp, G.B. & Willis, M.E., 1975. Age determination in the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck) with notes on the reproductive cycle. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 20, 157178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curry, G.B., 1982. Ecology and population structure of the Recent brachiopod Terebratulina from Scotland. Paleontology, 25, 227246.Google Scholar
Dayton, P.K., 1989. Interdecadal variation in an Antarctic sponge and its predators from océanographie climate shifts. Science, New York, 245, 14841486.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, M.W., 1974. Recent Antarctic and subantarctic brachiopods. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union. [Antarctic Research Series, vol. 21.]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, M.W., 1989. Brachiopods from the extreme South Pacific and adjacent waters. Journal of Paleontology, 63, 268301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruzov, E.N., 1977. Seasonal alterations in coastal communities in the Davis Sea. In Adaptations within Antarctic ecosystems (ed. Llano, G.A.), pp. 263278. Washington: Smithsonian Press.Google Scholar
Hatai, K., 1959. A new Rhynchonellid (Brachiopoda) from Antarctica. Biological Residts. Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition, 4, 17.Google Scholar
Hiller, N., 1994. The biogeographic relationships of the brachiopod fauna from Marion and Prince Edward Islands. South African Journal of Antarctic Research, 24, 6774.Google Scholar
Lee, D.E., 1978. Aspects of the ecology and paleoecology of the brachiopod Notosaria nigricans (Sowerby). Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 8, 395417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lutz, R.A. & Rhoads, D.C., 1980. Growth patterns within the molluscan shell: an overview. In Skeletal growth of aquatic organisms (ed. Rhoads, D.C. and Lutz, R.A.), pp. 203254. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCammon, H. & Buchsbaum, R., 1967. Size and shape variation of three Recent brachiopods from the strait of Magellan. Antarctic Research Series. National Research Council, Washington, OC, 11, 215225.Google Scholar
Neall, V.E., 1970. Notes on the ecology and palaeoecology ofNeothyris, an endemic New Zealand brachiopod. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 4, 117125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peck, L.S. & Brey, T., 1996. Bomb signals and growth bands in Antarctic brachiopods. Nature, London, 380, 207208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peck, L.S. & Robinson, K., 1994. Pelagic larval development in the brooding Antarctic brachiopod Lyothyrella uva. Marine Biology, 120, 279286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitcher, T.J. & Hart, P.J., 1990. Fisheries ecology. London: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Stebbing, A.R.D., 1971. Growth of Flustrafoliacea (Linnaeus) (Bryozoa). Marine Biology, 9, 267273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomson, J.A., 1918. Brachiopoda. Scientific Reports, Australian Antarctic Expedition, 1911–1914, Series C, 4, 176.Google Scholar
Winston, J.E. & Heimberg, B.F., 1988. The role of bryozoans in the benthic community at Low Island, Antarctica. Antarctic Journal of the United States, 21, 188189.Google Scholar