Macrozooplankton and nekton vertical distribution and abundance at the sustained observation location P3 in the northern Scotia Sea (Southern Ocean) during November and December 2017

Macrozooplankton and nekton were collected with a Rectangular Midwater Trawl 25 (RMT25) over several visits to the sustained observation location P3 (52.70 S, 40.26 W) in the northern Scotia Sea during November and December 2017. The work was carried out as part of the NERC Large Grant, COMICS (Controls on Mesopelagic Interior Carbon) on board the RRS Discovery (cruise DY086). The RMT25 net hauls sampled between 10 and 500 m depth, with the water column divided into 2 depth intervals (10-250 m and 250-500 m). A total of 6 hauls were obtained during 3 separate visits to station P3, each visit comprising a pair of hauls, of which one was carried out in nominal daytime and the other in nominal nighttime. Catches were immediately sorted on board and identified to the lowest taxonomic level feasible. Subsamples of the catches were retained, principally for subsequent biochemical and physiological analyses.

In total, 777 fish were caught, belonging to at least 23 species, with catches dominated by the myctophids Krefftichthys anderssoni, Gymnoscopelus braueri, Electrona antarctica and Protomyctophum tenesoni. The water column below 250m was dominated by Bathylagus spp. Temperate myctophid species, such as Protomyctophum parallelum and Protomyctophum andreyeshevi were also caught in small numbers. With regards macrozooplankton, the 250m-500m depth interval was dominated by the jellyfish, Atolla and Periphylla. The tunicate Salpa thompsoni and the euphausiids Euphausia triacantha and Thysanoessa spp. were also relatively abundant. Jellyfish still dominated catches in shallower waters (250m-10m), closely followed by euphausiids and Salpa thompsoni and chaetognaths. Themisto gaudichaudii and Parandania boecki were the most numerous amphipod species caught. Decapods were only caught in the deeper depth interval, both day and night.

Alternate title: Polar Data Centre (PDC) record GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/01337

Date (Publication): 2020-06-16

Citation identifier: http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/dms/metadata.php?id= / GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/01337

Point of contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
British Antarctic Survey		pdc@bas.ac.uk	Custodian
UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation	Stowasser, G., Fielding, S., Belcher, A., Mayor, D., Cook, K., & Tarling, G.	pdc@bas.ac.uk	Originator

Maintenance and update frequency: Unknown

Keywords

NDGO0001

NERC OAI Harvesting

NERC_DDC

GCMD Parameter Valids

EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Biodiversity
EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Microbiota Taxonomy > Zooplankton
EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Marine Environment Monitoring

BAS Free-text keywords

Amphipods
Chaetognaths
Cnidaria
Euphausiids
Mesopelagic
Myctophids

Use limitation: This is NERC-funded data, and its use must follow the Open Government License: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/.

Access constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: This is NERC-funded data, and its use must follow the Open Government License: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/.

Language: English

Topic category

Biota
Environment
Oceans

Begin date: 2017-11-17

End date: 2017-12-10

Reference system identifier: OGP / urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326

Distribution format

Distributor contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
Polar Data Centre - British Antarctic Survey		pdc@bas.ac.uk	Distributor

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
http		GET DATA

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Domain consistency

Measure identification: INSPIRE / Conformity_001

Conformance result

Title: INSPIRE Data Specification on unknown theme Guidelines

Date

Explanation: See the referenced specification

Pass: No

Statement: All species were identified according to the taxonomic guides available at time of analysis and the user must be aware that some species names may have since been updated.

The entire catch was sorted and all specimens above ~4 mm were recorded at least to a low taxonomic level. The absence of any taxon from the datasheet indicates that it was not present in the catch.