Macro and megabenthic communities in the High Arctic Basin: Initial Findings

Macro-infauna was collected with 11 box cores at six stations ranging from 640 to 3,250 m water depth. Total abundance ranged from 3 to 265 individuals 0.04 square meters (75 - 6,625 individuals per square meters) and decreased with increasing depth.

Biomass ranged from 0.04 to 228 mg wet weight 0.04 square meters and followed the same trend. Polychaetes, crustaceans and bivalves dominated the faunal densities, biomass and species numbers. A total of 90 benthic invertebrate species/taxa (including 15 identified from under-water imager), not part of this data set) from four biogeographic affinities were identified, including at least three new species of Isopoda.