TY - JOUR
T1 - Functional effects of the hadal sea cucumber Elpidia atakama (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea, Elasipodida) reflect small-scale patterns of resource availability
AU - Jamieson, A. J.
AU - Gebruk, A.
AU - Fujii, T.
AU - Solan, M.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments Supported by the HADEEP project (Nippon Foundation, Japan, and the Natural Environmental Research Council, UK). We thank the chief scientist Prof. Hans-Joachim Wagner (University of Tübingen, Germany) and the crew of the RV Sonne SO209. We thank Dr. Niamh Kilgallen (National Institute for Water and Atmosphere research, New Zealand) and Dr. Kota Kitazawa (Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Japan) for their assistance at sea. AJJ is currently supported by the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology Scotland (MASTS).
PY - 2011/12
Y1 - 2011/12
N2 - Holothuroidea represent the dominant benthic megafauna in hadal trenches (~6,000-11,000 m), but little is known about their behaviour and functional role at such depths. Using a time-lapse camera at 8,074 m in the Peru-Chile Trench (SE Pacific Ocean), we provide the first in situ observations of locomotory activity for the elasipodid holothurian Elpidia atakama Belyaev in Shirshov Inst Oceanol 92:326-367, (1971). Time-lapse sequences reveal 'run and mill' behaviour whereby bouts of feeding activity are interspersed by periods of locomotion. Over the total observation period (20 h 25 min), we observed a mean (±SD) locomotion speed of 7. 0 ± 5. 7 BL h -1, but this increased to 10. 9 ± 7. 2 BL h -1 during active relocation and reduced to 4. 8 ± 2. 9 BL h -1 during feeding. These observations show E. atakama translocates and processes sediment at rates comparable to shallower species despite extreme hydrostatic pressure and remoteness from surface-derived food.
AB - Holothuroidea represent the dominant benthic megafauna in hadal trenches (~6,000-11,000 m), but little is known about their behaviour and functional role at such depths. Using a time-lapse camera at 8,074 m in the Peru-Chile Trench (SE Pacific Ocean), we provide the first in situ observations of locomotory activity for the elasipodid holothurian Elpidia atakama Belyaev in Shirshov Inst Oceanol 92:326-367, (1971). Time-lapse sequences reveal 'run and mill' behaviour whereby bouts of feeding activity are interspersed by periods of locomotion. Over the total observation period (20 h 25 min), we observed a mean (±SD) locomotion speed of 7. 0 ± 5. 7 BL h -1, but this increased to 10. 9 ± 7. 2 BL h -1 during active relocation and reduced to 4. 8 ± 2. 9 BL h -1 during feeding. These observations show E. atakama translocates and processes sediment at rates comparable to shallower species despite extreme hydrostatic pressure and remoteness from surface-derived food.
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U2 - 10.1007/s00227-011-1767-7
DO - 10.1007/s00227-011-1767-7
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:81555195457
SN - 0025-3162
VL - 158
SP - 2695
EP - 2703
JO - Marine Biology
JF - Marine Biology
IS - 12
ER -