deep-sea fishes; deep sea corals; habitat; sponges; underwater photography
The 2012 and 2014 underwater camera surveys of the Aleutian Islands conducted by NOAA Fisheries were the first comprehensive underwater camera surveys of corals and sponges in the Aleutian Islands. Survey results presented in this report include fish and crab composition and density, coral, sponge, sea pens, and sea whip density and height, and substrate composition for each transect.
fishes; fish populations; fish surveys; habitat; underwater photography
Two sites were selected off of Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska and 40 underwater camera transects were deployed to assess benthic habitat and fish density. The data extracted from the images included substrate classifications as well as coral, sponge, and fish counts and identification.
This report presents the results of 15 projects conducted using Program funds from 2012–2015.
This report updates information on deep‐sea coral ecosystems and management efforts to protect them over the last decade, and presents a first summary of information on U.S. deep‐sea sponge ecosystems.
In the Mariana convergent margin, large arc volcanoes disappear south of Guam even though the Pacific plate continues to subduct and instead, small cones scatter on the seafloor. These small cones could form either due to decompression melting accompanying back-arc extension or flux melting, as expected for arc volcanoes, or as a result of both processes. Here, we report the major, trace, and volatile element compositions, as well as the oxidation state of Fe, in recently dredged, fresh pillow lavas from the Fina Nagu volcanic chain, an unusual alignment of small, closely spaced submarine calderas and cones southwest of Guam.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management partnered with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science to gather biogeographic information in support of this evaluation around the Main Hawaiian Islands . The complexity of products from this assessment range from simple animal distribution maps to mathematical models depicting the predicted distributions of animals.
Chapter 3 pertains to benthic habitats and corals. An understanding of the distribution of marine benthic habitats and associated biota in the Main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) is necessary in order to assess potential direct and indirect effects of renewable energy development.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management partnered with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science to gather biogeographic information in support of this evaluation around the Main Hawaiian Islands . The complexity of products from this assessment range from simple animal distribution maps to mathematical models depicting the predicted distributions of animals.
Chapter 3 pertains to benthic habitats and corals. An understanding of the distribution of marine benthic habitats and associated biota in the Main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) is necessary in order to assess potential direct and indirect effects of renewable energy development.
As image-based identifications become a predominant method for deep-sea species characterizations, there is a need to evaluate the accuracy of species- and genus-level identifications from video and still images to provide a reliable measure of biodiversity. This study presents a validation of the ability to make accurate image-based identifications of black coral species in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico from standard-definition video collected by a remotely operated vehicle.
Benthic invertebrates; habitat; underwater survey; species distribution models; model validation; invertebrate size structure; density; Eastern Bering Sea; Alaska
Species distribution modeling is a useful tool for informing ecosystems management. However, validation of model predictions through independent surveys is rarely attempted in marine environments, which are challenging to study and often contain sensitive habitats. We conducted an underwater camera survey of the eastern Bering Sea slope and outer shelf as an independent test of species distribution modeling of deep-sea corals, sponges and sea whips based on bottom trawl survey data.
Porifera; new demosponges; Gulf of Alaska; North Pacific Ocean
Two new species, Hamacantha (Vomerula) cassanoi n. sp. and Prosuberites salgadoi n. sp., are described from the eastern Gulf of Alaska in the North Pacific Ocean. These are the first records of the genera Hamacantha and Prosuberites from Alaska. We also report two geographic range extensions for the region.