FISHERIES RESEARCH BOARD OF CANADA

Translation Series No. 1375

Bioebenoses and biomass of benthos of the Newfoundland-Labrador region.

By Ki1N. Nesis

Original title: Biotsenozy i biomassa bentosa N'yufaund-.lendskogo-Labradorskogo raiona.. •

From: Trudy Vsesoyuznogo Nauchno-Issledovatel'skogo •Instituta Morskogo Rybnogo Khozyaistva Okeanografii (eNIRO), 57: 453-489, 1965.

Translated by the Translation Bureau(AM) Foreign Languages Division

Department of the Secretary of State of Canada

Fisheries Research Board of Canada • Biological Station

, st. John's, Nfld

1970

75 pages typescript

° CANADA

INTO - EN TRANSLATED FROM - TR,ADUCTION DE

Russian English

PAGE,NUMBERS IN ORIGINAL NUMEROS DES PAGES DANS

. L'ORIGINAL

36 NUMBER OF TYPED PAGES

NOMBRE DE PAG.ES DACTY LOGRAPHIEES

PUBLISH ER ÉDITEUR

1965

YE.tR ANNEE

DATE OF PUBLICATION DATE DE PUBLICATION

VOLUME

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ISSUE.NO . NUMERO PLACE OF PUBLICATION

LIEU DE PUBLICATION

ERANCH OR DIVISION DIRECTION OU DIVISION

PERSON etEQUESTING DEMANDE PAR

YO UR NUM BER VOTRE DOSSIER N° •

Biological Station Mr. T.K. Pitt St. John's, Nfld.

769-18-14

DAT E OF R EQUEST 1209.69 DATE DE LA DEMANDE

.FLD 69A

'r OEPARTMENT OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE TRANSLATION BUREAU

FOREIGN LANGUAGES DIVISION

SECRÉTARIAT D'ÉTAT BUREAU DES TRADUCTIONS

DIVISION DES LANGUES ÉTRANGÈRES

'AUTHOR - AUTEUR

Nesis K.N.

. TITLE IN ENGLISH - TITRE ; ANGLAIS

Biocoenoses and biomas of benthos of the Newfolindland-Labradoriregion

Title . in foreign_iangnage---(tranalitarate_foreisn -ottantatere)

Biotsenozy i biomassa bentosa N i yufaundlendSkogo-Labradorskogoraiona.

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•. Trudylesesoyuznogo nauchno-iàsledovaterskogo instituta morskogo — rybnogo khozyaistva i okeanogràfii

- :REFEREN CE IN ENGLISH - RÉFÉRENCE EN ANGLAIS •

Trudy of the 40.1-Union Scientific-Research Instituteof Marine . Fiseriés and Oceanography.

REQUEr IN G• DEPA RTMENT MIN ISTERE•CLIENT

Fisheries Research Board TRANSLATION BUREAU NO. 2591 NOTRE DOSSIER Pi°

TRANSLATOR (INITIALS) •14.• TRADUCTEUR (INITIALES)

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CV'

CANADA

TRANSLATOR (INITIALS)

TRADUCTEUR (INITIALES)

A .M.

LANSUAOE

LANGUI

Russian

OU R NO. NOTRE No

2951

DATE

FEB - 5 1970

DEPARTMENT OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE

r TRANSLATION BUREAU FOREIGN LANGUAGES DIVISION

SECRÉTARIAT D'ÉTAT

BUREAU DES TRADUCTIONS DIVISION .DES LANGUES ÉTRANGÈRES

YOUR NO. VOTRE N0

769-18-14

DEPARTMENT

■Amirriptc

Fisheries Research Board

DIVISION/BRANCH

DIVISION/DIRECTION

iological Station

CITY

VILLE

St.John's, Nfld.

UNEDITED DRAFT TRANSLATION Only i or inIorrnatien

TRADUCTION NON REVIS4 Information sot.demere

.BIOCOENOSES AND BIOMASS OF BENTHOS ,OF THE•NEWFOUNDLAND LABRADOR REGION

K. N. Nesis

The shores of. Newfoundland and Labrador were the

first parts of the American continent to be seen and visited

by Europeans, the Norsemen of Iceland (Bjarne Herjulfson in

985 and Leif Ericson around the year 1000).

The discovery of the fishing banks of Newfoundland

was, from an economic aspect, the most important result of

the voyages of Cabot in 1497 and Cortereal in 1500. The

' exploitation of the riches of the sea preceded.by decades

the colonization of the shores. Thus it is, that for several

centuries, tens of millions of people have been fed by the

cod and haddock of Newfoundland. The abundance of fish in

the area is a consequence of the abundance of fish foods,

•the chlef of which are the invert-,ebrate animals. Despite

*Translator's note: Numbers in the margin refer to the page of the original text.

SOS-100..10.»3

all this, the region of Newfoundland and Labrador has long

escaped the attention of marine biologists.

Major Zuropean expeditions, ("Challenger", "Princess

Alice", "Irondel", •"Mikhaelt Sars" and others), visited the

Newfoundland region only in passing. For this reason, exist-

ing faunal records in the works of Brunel (1961a), La Rocque

(1953), Packard (1867), Verrill (1885) and Whiteaves (1901)

encompass sufficiently fully only the fauna of the coastal

areas. Only on the benthos of Georges Bank has there been

a short paper, by P. Wigley (1961).

The fish industry requires knowled ,_?. e of the prod-

uctivity of a body of water and, in particular, the cond-

ition. of the food base for commercial fish. It is essential

also to have detailed knowledge of the hydrological regime,

on which the distribution of fish depends to a large exteüt.

In the solution of the latter problem, the hydrobiologist

can render considerable aid to the hydrologist.

The study of the regime of a body of water through

the method of biological indicators, constitutes one of the

most important problems facing marine biology (Nesis, 1962a).

V. Shelford et al (1935) noted. that organisms., and more

especially, ecological associations, are the best indicators

of hydrological conditions.

The author is grateful to I.K. Avilov,

A.A. Georgiev, A.A. Elizarov, G.P. Lakharov, O.A. Popova,

4 '

3

A.I. Postalakio, V.D. Rvachev, V.P. Serebryakov, I.N.

Sidorenko and K.P. Yanulov or the collection of material, L454

for their aid during work at sea and for their advice and

consultations. N.M. Miloslavskaya and A.A. Neiman kindy

examined the manuscript and submitted valuable directions

and remarks.

During the identification of fauna the author made

use of the dvice of Z.I. Baranova, A.N. Golikovi.E.N. Gruzov,

Professor E.F. Guriyanova, G.B. Zevina, Professor A. V.

Deanov, V.M. Koltun, O.G. Kusakin,,N.B. Lomakina, D.V. Ntu-

mov, F.A. Pasternak, O.A. Skarlato, Ya.I. Starobogatov, Prof,.

essor A.A. Strelkov, Professor P.V. Ushakov, V.V. Khlebovich

and other fellow workers.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

. The Soviet bottom fishing industry exploits primarily

the regions of Newfoundland and Labrador, northward to 56 .

North, to a lesser extent the waters of Nova Scotia and

Georges Bank, and makes practically no use of the Western

Greenland rogina,For this reason our benthos studies were

limited to the Newfoundland-Labrador region.

quantitative data were derived by us. from the four-

teenth (June - September, 1959) and the seventeenth (June-

September, 1960) voyages of the expeditionary ship "Sevas-

topol" of the N.M. Knipovich Polar Scientific-Research Ins-

titute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography.

4

P

Qualitative sampleS from the Sigsbee trawle and

fromoommercial-trawls were taken in 1954, and in 1958-

1960 during the voyages of the expeditionary ships "Sevast-

. opol","Odessa", and "Novorossiisk", b'y A.D. Starostin, K.P.

Yanulov, A.A. Georgiev, I.N. Sidorenko, G.P. -Zakharov and

others (Nesis, 1962b).

The equipment used to Collect the quantitative

samples wap the weighted bottom scoop "0cean-50"; with a

grab area of 0.25 JO. Altogether, 163'samples were taken,

including 106 Samples collected during the fourteenth •crUise

• and 57 during the seventeenth (fig. 1). As a rule, at each

station, one s bottom sample was taken, which was then washed

through. two'sieves (the bottom one with a.1 mm mesh). The

samples were fixed in 4% formalin and weighed by ordinary

methods. The'bottoms of the banks from 45 to 1500 metres

in depth were studied.

The bottom scoop 9 0 cean-50" normally functioned.

very well on ailt :and silt-sand. bottoms. Since stones and

boulders (ice 'deposits) are frequently encountered at all

depths in the Newfoundland region, the bottom scoop did not

always obtain a fully useful sample, even frora soft bottOms;

stones-were sometimes stuck between the jaws. The bottom

scoop worked even worse where the bottom consisted of firm

• sand and shells.

• ' On stony:groUnd the bottom scoop, at the very best,

wauld deltver only a few'stones, so that na quantitative .

analysis of the fauna could even be considered.

For the determination of the mean biomass we utilized

all the quantitative samples. The bottom samples, however,

were not all of equal value. The distribution of the observed

biomass magnitndes by stations gives a typical logarithmic

curve (fig. 2), the greatest number of stations had a biomass

of lees than 25 g/m2 , and very few had a high biomass. If

however, we consider only those stations at which the bott=

scoop took the ground soil well or satisfactorily, we get m

different curve, somewhat similar in its left side to the

curve of the Poisson distribution. There is a sharp (more

than one and one half times) increase in the magnitude of the

mean biastass, from 157 to 260 g/m2 . Eliminated •are biomass

values of less than 10 g/m2 . At depths of less than 1 km the

latter were observed only in those samples for which the

bottom scoop functioned poorly.

At only very feet stations was the bottom soil well /456

taken and therefore we can only give a sketch of the distrib-

ution of the benthos biomass, separating out the areas with a

biomass of less than 100 ene and more than l'kg/m2 . The

bottom relief, the nature of the bottom and the hydrological

conditions of the Newfoundland and Labrador regions have been

described in detail (Avilov, Elizarov, 1962; Litvin, Rvachev,

1962; Commercial reports, 1962), and in our work we will not

touch upon these questions. .

4

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Fig..1. Location of bottom sampling stations. 1 - stations of the 14th. cruise of the expeditionary

.ship "SevastOpol".. 2 , .stations Of the 17th. cruise.

• e

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Fig. 2. Distribution . of stations according to the bibmass of benthos.

1 - all stations. 2 - stations at which the bottom scoop

functioned satisfactorily or well.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE BIOMASS

• • The highest benthos biomass in our samples occurred .

on the plateau of the Grand Bank and equalled 4.6 kg/m2 of

which more than 95% cOnsisted of the bivalve mollusc Meso- .

desmà arctatum (infauna). In .trawl catches in the same area,

masses of epifauna were found, sea mussels, cucmaria, many

starfishet4;.crabs.and large, deep-burrowing molluscs, not

taken by the bottom scoop. It can be considered that the

overall biomass in this area exceeds 5 kg/m2 . Such a high

biomass, distant from the coast (the Grand Bank plateau area

is more than 400 km from the coast of Newfoundland), is obs-

erved extremely rarely, and the biomass of infauna even close

to the coast seldom exceeds 1 . - 1.5 kg/m2 (Brotskaya and

Zenkevich, 1939). The biomass of infauna of over 2 kg/m2, in

Terpeniya Bay, consists of Leda Dernula - 2.5 kg/m2 (Skalkin,

1960; Gur'yanova and Kobyakova,1955), off Iceland - Cylprina

islandica 2.5 kg/m2 (Einarsson, 1941), on the littoral of

the White Sea - nft arenaria - 2.8 kg/m2 (Pavshtiks, 1949),

in the mouth of the Mashigin on the north island of Novaya

Zemlya - Saxicava ârctica, plya truncata and Cardium ciliatum

3.6 kg/m2 .(Brotskaya and Zenkevich, 1939), in the North Sea - /457

- 3.9 kg/m2 , Myp - 3.4 kg/m2 , Cardium - 2.5 kg/m2

(idagmeier, 1951).

The high biomass on the Grand Bank is derived from

Echinarachnius parma. In Our samples, the maximum biomass

of this species equalled 1.2 kg/m 2 , a value in the same order

as off western Kamchatka and in the Sakhalinskiy and Karag-

Lankly Bays(Gordeeva, 1951; •Pasternak, 1957;. Lus and Kuz-

netsov, 1961).

A high biomass of benthos is found in the north- ,

western part of the Atlantic, on the heights of the banks

of the outer reaches of the Shelf (fig. 3). On the slopes

Fig. 3, Distribution of theseneral -benthos biomaàé ' In the Newfoundland-Labrador 'reeon (our

data) end on Georges BarikÀfrciiirWiey,1961Y in g/.

À Labrador, B - North Newfbitndland and the north-western slope • of the Grand Newfoundland Bank, C - The Grand Bank, • except for the - north-western slope, D - Flemish Ca i5 Bank, È Banks of St. Pierre, Green,. Misaine, Bancitiereau and Càbot Strait, F - Georges Bank. - :

1 - leàs than 100,2 - 1001000,3 - more than 1000.

10

of the banks it is lower. This distribution of the biomasa /458

of the benthos is linked to the distribution of the prod-

uction of phytoplankton since, beyond the limits of a narrow

coastal belt, phytoplankton constitute practically the only

primary source of food matter for bottom fauna. The phytobenthos

can play a part as a food soùroe for bottom animals only on

St. Piérre Bank where, at depths of 45 to 65 mstres, we ene.,

ountered undergrowths of Ptilota and other red algae. The

detritus produced by the littoral macrophytes of Newfoundland,

is carried away by the coastal stream of the Labrador Current.

The amount of sargasso and storm-torn coastal seaweed that is

swept onto the Grand Bank is not great. The link between the

regions of high benthos biomass and the regions of high

phytoplankton production was described by M.C. Idel'son (1934);

and it was shown that the eastern coast of Murman was richer

in benthos in those areas where there was a higher production

of phytoplankton (Miloslavskaya, 1961).

Evidently, the differences in the benthos biomass on

individual banks must also be tied to the distribution of

phytoplankton production. The average biohass of benthos at

depths up to 300 mstres (Table 1) reaches a maximum value

on the Grand Newfoundland Bank, but off Labrador and on

Flsmish Cap it is minimal.

There is still a lack of precise data on the annual

production of phytoplankton in the north-western part of'the

11

Atlantic. However, studieS in which the distribution of

the phytoplankton biomass is given e apparently, confirm our

suppositions. During the period of biological spring the

quantity of phytoplankton on the Grand Bank is very great,

the volume of seston reaching 10 cim3 in 1 m3 . Off Labrador

the seston volume is several times lower and on the Flemish

Cap Bank, a significant florescence of phytoplankton has

never been observed (Vladimirskaya, 1962; Movchan, 1962;,

Bainbridge, Jones, 1962). The production of phytoplankton

on Georges Bank is little distinguished from,the production

of its surrounding oligotrophic, oceanic waters (Riley, 1941).

The abundance of phytoplankton in Arctic and mixed

waters is related to the high vertical stability of these

waters. Weakly stratified Atlantic waters are poor in phyto-

plankton (Bainbridge, Jones, 1962), but it is precisely

these oligotrophic (Yashnov, 1961) waters which dominate on

the Flemish Cap Bank. They also periodically intrude onto

Georges Bank, and in many ways, determine its hydrological

regime (Bigelow, 1927; Colton, Temple, Honey, 1962).

• The Arctic waters of the Labrador Current,dre tioh .

in •phytoplankton, but the florescence of thiS phytoplankton

occurs late, the length of the vegetation period is short,

and therefore, the annual production is not great. The most

favorable conditions for the development of phytoplankton

occur in the waters of the Grand Bank. These waters are con-

stituted as a result of the mixing of the heavily 'stratified

1 2

but relatively nutrient-poor Arctic waters of the Labrador

Current with the waters of the continental slope, which are

weakly stratified but rich in biogenous nutrient elements.

The amount of light available on the Grand Bank is high,

the florescence of the phytoplankton begins early and the

vegetative period is reasonably long. On the eastern slope

of the Flemish Cap Bank, at a depth of about 1 km, there is

located a patch of high biomass. The biomass here reaches

2.1 kg/m2 , 98% of which consists of sponges (Craniella cra-

nium, Thenea muricata and other Tetraxonida). Similar acc-

umulations of Tetraxonida were discovered in the Kuril-

Kamchatka Trench (Sokolova, 1960). ln even higher biomass

of sponges (up to 3 - 4 kg/m2 ), at depths of 1.0 to 1.3 km

was revealed by A.P. Kuznetsov (1960), in the Irminger Sea.

All these accumulations of sponges exist under a zone of

contact between Atlantic and sub-Arctic waters. Where the

water masses mix, the density of the water increases and

the mixed water descends to the bottom, bringing to the

water layers adjacent to the bottom, a great quantitY of

nuttlents from the productive upper layer. .The abundance /461,

of food permits the rapid develdpment of sestonophagous

sponges.

The distribution pattern of the biomasS of benthos

(see Table 1), demonstrates an even decrease of the biomass

with dèpth. On the - Shelf, thé highest biomass of benthos is

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15

is nbted on the Grand Bank while at a depth of the upper

bathyal.(200 - 500 m), in the northern Newfoundland region.

In other areas the benthos biomass at these depths ie almost

even, and approximately two times less'than it is off north-.

ern Newfoundland.,

7e-. too

t.à 500

to

t\1 .

(4M»

•r4

• • 10 • W : 25 50 75 WO 150-1.00 3001,0,7300 7301000 WO 2M -

- •Depth,'mf • - aybutia, ,

Fig. 4, The decrease in the biomass of benthos • • . with depth.•

1.-in. region C; 2,-in region.B. (See regions in fig.

The high biomass in the upper bathyal Zone .off the north

of Newfoundland results, in the main, from the grouping of

B;isaster_freçgilis - Ctenodiscils crisbatus (average. biomass,

102 g/m2 ). •

The bOttom in this area, at most stations, was found

to be Soft, silt and sandy silt. A. light, cyclonic turbulence

. of the current-apparently favors" an increased production of phyto-

- ;Plankton. Soft bottom Soils,at depth 's of 200 500 metres p were

16

noted also on Flemish‘Cap Bank and in Cabot Strait (T.itvin

and Rvachev, 1962), but these regions find themselves under

the influence of Atlantic waters, with their relatively low

productivity. Along the outer slopes of the Grand Bank, where

the productivity of plankton is high, a strong current exists

at depths of 200 to 500 metres, which does not permit the

settling of small particles.,Here the bottom is firm and conp-

osed of sand and silty sand.

For the Barents Sea, the north-western part of the

Bering Sea, The Kuril-Kamchatka Trench and Antarctic waters,

the decrease of the biomass with depth follows a hyperbola

(Belyaev and Ushakov, 1957, Belyaev, 1960). For the Grand

Newfoundland Bank we drew a similar graph, utilizing logar-

ithmic coordinates (in logarithmic coordinates a hyperbola

expresses itself in a straight line) (fig. 4). Only the bio-

mass values for depths of less than 200 metres and more than ,

500 metres correlatedwith this straight line, the biomuss Lita •

at depths of 200 - 500 metres being far too low. The values

for the biomass for, depths of 200 - 300 metres, about 150

g/m2 , and for 300 - 500 metres, about 100 g/m2 , can be obt-

'ained by interpolation • (from the graph). Theseyalues are

closer to the ones observed off northern Newfoundland.

The sharp difference •in the biomass between the rich

(Newfoundland and Nova Scotia) and poor (Labrador and Flemish

Cap) regions, is noticeable to a depth of 500 metres, after

1 r

which it evens out. The average benthos biomass for the enlie

area under study was 154 g/m 2 (the mean arithetical of all

the samples), a value of the same order es for the biomass of

the Barents, Bering and Okhotsk Seas„The Grand Bank of Newfounl-

land, in terms of the abundance of benthos, does not yield to

the most prolific regions of the seas of the 2ar .!I'ast and can

be considered as one of the most richly endowed parts of tl,e

oceans of the world. In terms of biomass, the areas of Lab-

rador and Flemish Cap Bank are more nearly like the poor

regions of the Siberian seas (Zenkevich, 1947) or.those of

tropical Africa (Buchanan, 1958; Longhursb; 1959).

BIOCOENOSES

The meanings of the terms "biocoenosis'; "complex" and

"grouping", as appearing in the literature, differ quite

widely, as various authors attribute to bhem their own various

concepts of extent and status. e distinDilsh three levels of

biocoenotic units, successively overlapping each other; bio-

coenosis, a group of biocoenoses and grounin. •The basic level

of association is the biocoenosis and in fts definition we are

in full agreement with V.P. Vorobtev (1949, page 155). The

. unit of the highest level is the group of biocoenoses. This

understanding is identical to the "iso-community" of Thorson

(1957, page 104), and defines the aggregate of ecologically

parallel biocoenoses, constituted in various maritime regions

of the world by the various species of one and the same genus.

18

The unit of lowest rank is the grouping. This understandin

is close to the concept of "complex" of V.P. Vorobtev (1949).

We define as groupings the variations of a biocoenosis, devel-

oping on'various bottoms within the liMits of the one water

mass. Finally, an association, identified by us on the basis

only of qualitative sampling (in the absence of cuentitative),

in which the interrelationship of the dominant forms is und:

ermined, we define as a complex.

In making deter:ninations as to the biocoenosis to

which the population of a siven station mi Lt belong, we e

guided by the .q.eneral complement of the fauna, the quantitativL

interrelationships of the species in the bottom scoops and

trawls, depth , nature of the botton and the temperature of

the water.

In the Newfoundland-Labrador reon we lound the

following associations (fig. 5) (discussed in Lhe order of

increasing depth of habitation).

Biocoenosis Uesodesma arctabum - Cucunaria frondosa

lytilus &lulls, occupies the shallowest part of the Grand Bank

(depth 45 - 50 metres; bottom, sand with &lens). 'ore was obs- . erved the highest biomass of benthos in the refcion (the mean

biomass, without takini, into account lare forms of epifauna -

about 1.7 tp 1.8 kg/m2 ). According to the bottom scoop sample

the dominzt form consisted of the bivalve mollusc 1,-esodesma

arctatum (with a mean 'biomass of over 1.5 kg/m2 ); the molluscs

19

nuccinum meridionale, âipho (4oma1osipho) ventricosus and

( SLunl1Laislandica make up a mean biomass of from 5 to 20 g/m2 .

To judge from the trawl samples, the area is also inhabited by

masses of Cucumaria frondosa, clumps of large Eytilus edulis

(one of the world's few sub-littoral populations of sea mussels,

and the only one separated from the shore b such a great dist-

ance), and many hydroids.

The Mesodesma biocoenosis does not, apparently, have an

analogue in any other part of the seas of the world, the benthos

of which haà been sufficiently well studied.

Grout) of biocoenoses of epifauna with Yodiola, peel Cucumaria t Balanus, Chlamys, Ophiopholis,

Strongylocentrotus and others.

Biocoenosis Cucumaria frondosa - Rhodophyta, discovered

in the shallow waters of the St, Pierre Bank (45 - 55 metres;

bottom composed of stone, shingle, shells and lithothamnium).

Here only one bottom scoop station was made (biomass 590 g/m2 ,

including C. frondosa 483, Ophiopholis aculeata - 102,

Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis - 15, bryozoans - 8) Trawl

samples indicated that characteristic of the biocoenosis was

an abundance of crustiform lithothamnium, Ptilota and other red

• seaweed, many Hydroidea, Thelepus cincinnatus,

Balanus crenatus and others:

This blocoenosis, in the composition of its fauna, is

close to the biocoenosis Thelepus cincinnatus - Chlamys islandica

•

20

/463

•

'!

Fg. 6. Bottom biocoenoses of the Newfoundland- • Labrador region.

1 - biocoenosis Cueumaria frondosa Rhodophyba; 2 - biocoenosis Mesodesma arctatum - Cucumaria frondosa - Menus edulis;

:.3._ biocoenosis Echinarachnius parma Ammodytes americanus; 4 - biocoenosis Echinarachnius parma - Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis -Djeura sarsi; 5 - biocoenosis Astarte montagui - Nacoma caloarea; biocoenosis Ctenodiscus crispatus Actiniae; 7 • - biocoenosis Trochostoma turgidum Ctenodiscus crispatus Ophiura sarsi; 8 -biocoenosis Brisaster fragilis . - Onuphis opalina Astarte crenata whiteavesii; 9 - grouping of Brisaster fragilis - Ctenodiscus crispatus; 10 - grouping of Brisaster fragilis -Otébiura sarsi; 11 - biocoenosis Brisaster fragilis - Astarte crenata

•sulcatoides Ophiocten sericeum gracilis; 12 - grouping of Spangle Strongylocentrotuseoebachiensis •- Ophiopholis aculeataf 13 - bio-coenosis Brisaster fragilis - Ctenodiscus crispatus AMphiura otteri - Pennatularia; 14 - biocoenosis Brisaster fragilis - Spongia; 15- Complex zones of mixed Labrador and subLArctic waters on the eastern slope of the Grand Bank; 16 - biocoenosis Thelepus cincinn-atus - Chlamys islandica - Opiopholls aculeata; 17 -.grouping of Spongia Potamil1a neglecta Bryozoa; 18 - grouping of Spongia - .Astarte crenata whiteavesiii- Brisaster fragi1is; 19 - biocoenosis Spongia; 20- abyssal complex.

7,71

-,Ophiopholis aculeata and apparently blends directly into it,

but the presence of red seaweeds determines its specificity. It

is similar to the biocoenosis of the Ramose lithothamnium of the

Murman coast, one of the variations of the Amphiboreal biocoeno-

sis Modiolus modiolus (Zatsepin, 1962).Modio1us were also encoun-

tered on the St. Pierre Bank, but only in the form of empty

shells. The biocoenosis C. frondosa has been identified on the

Spitsbergen Bank (Iderson, 1930). A very similar grouping of

Asterias amurensis - Tethvum aurantium, parts of which contain

Ptilota •ectinata and other Rhodophyta and an abundance of

Cucumaria japonica, has been eound off Southern Sakhalin (Gur'

yanoira, 1956; Skalkin, 1960).

Biocoenosis Thelepus cincinnatus - Chlamys islandica

Ophiopholis aculeata flourishes amoungst biocoenoses in which

E. parma predominates (depths 65 - 135, mean 80 metres), though

on stony and not on sandy bottoms. The mean biomass of the bio-

coenosis is very low, about 33 g/m2 , but this is the result of

the unsatisfactory functioning of the bottom scoop on this type

of bottom.

The composition of fauna in the trawl samples was

reminiscent of biocoenoses in which E. panne predominates, but

this sand dollar was encountered rarely, and there were few

burrowing bivalve molluscs.

An analgous biocoenosis with Balanus balanus, Chlotnra

islandica, StronRvlocentrotus droebachensis and Ophiophol„is

aculeata has been noted in the shallow water areas of the

Barents Sea (Medvezhinskaya jranslator - Bear7, Nadezhdinskaa

1F0Pe71 Kaninskaya, and Gusinaya 27.00se7 Banks, Murman coast)

(Brotskaya and Zenkevich, 1939; Pergament, 1957; ._atsepin, 1962).

In analagous conditions in the Far East, for example, on the

stony bottoms off the island of Paramushir, there are biocoenoses

with a predominance of Ophiopholis aculeata, sponges, hydroids

and bryozoans (Gurtyanova, 1956; Kuznetsov and Sokolova. 1961),

which are similar in composition to our biocoenosis, but are

distinguished by the absence of. Chlamys islandica, which is

extremely rare in Far Eastern waters.

Groun of biocoenoses of Echinarachnius parma.

Biocoenosls E. parma Ammodytes americanus is distr;b-

uted over the Grand Bank of Newfoundland and Green, St. Pierre,

Misaine and Banquereau Banks at depths of 45 - 100 metres (aver-

age depth, 69 metres), on sandy bottoms. The mean biomass of the

biocoenosis was 432 g/m2 , including the flat sand dollar E. parma

which gave 334 g/m2 , the sand eel Af. americanus - 76 g/m2 , and

the sea urchin S. droebachiensis - 12 g/m2 .

The biocoenosis E. parma is widely distributed through

the Pacific Ocean basin, from the northern part of the Bering

Sea to the Sea of Japan (Makarov,. 1937; Gordeeva, 1948; Gurt

yanova and Kobyakuva, 1955; Kobyakova, 1959a; Pasternak, 1957;

Vinogradova, 1954; Kuznetsov, 1959a; Neiman, 1960; Savilov,

1961). For all the differences between the Pacific and Atlantic /465

fauna, the number of species common to the Pacific and Atlantic

23

biocoenoses of E. Parma is reasonably large. Common, besides

widely distributed circumpolar species, are also species whose

range is interrupted by the Arctic, including a number of

Pacific-South Atlantic forms,

Biocoenosis E. parma - Strongylocentrotus droebachiensia

Ophiura sarsi is an inevitable associate of the biocoenosis E.

_parma. It forms a bordering ring around it on all banks at depths

bf 95 - 220 metres (average depth, 146 metres), on sandy, and

much more rarely, on silty sand bottome. At a depth of 225 to

250 metres it undergoes a transition into the biocoenoses of

the group Brisaster fragilis. The mean biomass of tii:e biocoenosis

was 149 g/m2 , made up of 89 g/m2 of E. parma, 10 g/m2 of S. droe-

bachiensis, 9 g/m2 of Ophiura sarsi and Astarte borealis; Ophio-

pholis aculeata, Onuphis conchvlega, Bryozoa, Thpifms_p_insaue-

atus and Macoma calcarea contributed a biomass of. 2 to 4 g/m2 .

Encountered in the trawl samples of biocoenosis, espec-

ially on the north-eastern part of the Grand Bank, on Whale Bank

and off Cape Breton Island (in the zone of influence of cold

currents), were many cold water species, absent from the south-

western part of the Grand Bank and Banquereau Bank: Sabina sept-

emcarinata t Cardiu ciliatum, Solaater syrtensiR,' Gorgonocephalus

eucnemis, arcticus, Stegophiura nodosa, and besides these,

masses of 0, sarsi and S. droebachiensis. Here we also found

a fairly full representation of species wjth a Pacific-South

Atlantic distribution.(Nesis,1962).

24

In the lower sub-littoral of the basin of the Pacific,

the biocoenosis E.,-parma is replaCed by a biocoenosis predom-

inating in Ophiura sarsi (Vinogradova, 1954; Guriyanova, 1956;

Pasternak, 1957, Neiman,1960; Kuznetsov and Sokolova, 1961;

Savilov, 1961). The Atlantic biocoenosis is similar to it in

many respects, but in the Northwestern Atlantic, E. parma

definitely predominates over other forms.

Group of biocoenoses of Macoma calcarea.

Biocoenosis Astarte montagui - Macoma calcarea is dist.,

ributed through the zone of influence of the coastal stream of

the Labrador Current, on Hamilton Bank, off the shores of Lab-

rador and the northern part of Newfoundland and on the north-

western slope of the Grand Bank, at depths of 100 - . 235 metres

and possibly less, and in the main, on sandy and stony-sand,

more rarely on silty-sand or sandy-silt bottoms. We discovered

a patch of this biocoenosis in a blind hollow, "Whale Trough",

at depths of 90 - 120 metres. The mean biomass was about 54 g/m2 ,

predominating in Astarte montagui and Macoma calcarea (mean

biomass of 3-5 g/m2 ), Buccinum terrae-novae, Ophiura sarsi and

others.

This biocoenosis is one of the variations of the circum-

polar group of biocoenoses of Macoma calcarea, known in the

waters of Greenland, Jan Mayen, Spitsbergen, Iceland, The Fae-

roes, north coast of Norway, the central part of the Baltic Sea,

the Barents, White,Kara, Chukotsk and Bering Seas and the Sea

of Okhotsk, and the Arctic waters of the Canadian archipelago

25

(Brotskaya, 1930; Idellson, 1930; Brotskaya and Zenkevich, 1939;

Makarov, 1937; Zatsepin, 1962; Ivanova, 1957; Filatova and

Zenkevich, 1957; Vinogradova, 1954; Neiman, 1960; Lenkevich and

Filatova, 1958; Savilov, 1961; Parat, Devillers, 1936; Daniel,

Mankowski, 1951; Ellis, 1960; Bertelsen, 1937; Sparck, 1933;

Thorson, 1933, 1934, 1957; Vibe, 1939, 1950).

• Group of biocoenoses of Ctenodiscus

• Biocoenosis Ctenodiscus crispatus - Actiniae is encount-

ered in the internal parts of underwater depressions of the North

Newfoundland Shelf, displacing there the grouping Brisaster

fragilis Ctenodiscus crispatus. The definition of a.precise

boundary line between these two associations is difficult since

the disappearance of the warm water species (Brisaster frag-

ilia, Ybldia (MeRavoldia), thracaieformis, Hitpasteria phrygiana

and others), along the course of depressions penetrating into

the body of the shelf, takes place very slowly, consistent with

the gradual weakening of the weak flow of sub-Arctic water,

intruding into the underwater depressions from the direction of

the continental slope.

This biocoenosis is encountered at a depth of 165 metres

•on a patch of firm clay on the north-western slobe of the Grand

Bank and at depths of 233 - 288 metrea, on the silt and sandy-

silt bottom to the east of North Newfoundland. The mean biomass

was 83 g/m2 . Predominant were Actiniae, Ctenodiscus crispatus,

(mean biomass of 19 -25 g/m2 ), Stylarioides plumosus (9 g/m2)

£03

and Others.

At the entrances to the fiords of Newfoundland, on

silt bottoms p .the fauna becomes qualitatively sharply poorer,

with etiniae e etenodiScusaendalus aridleolychetes being almbst

the only representatives of the macrobenthos in the trawls.

'This biocoenosis is quite similar to . the biocoencisis ot

the lower Arctic, lealdane gazai, of the Murman coast (Leibson,

1939; Zatsepin, 1962), which is also developed in underwater

depressions and fiords. Analagous associations have been di.sc-

overed in the blind fiords of Iceland and Sweden as well (Thor- /

son, 1957).

Biocenosis Trochostoma turLidum - Ctenodiscus cristatus

Ophiura oars; was noted in the underwater straits between the

Grand Bank of Newfoundland, Green. Bank and St. Pierre Bank, and

in the deeps of the south-western part of the Grand Bank, at

depths of 108 - 165 metres (average 133 metres), and on silty-

sand. The mean biomass of the biocoenosis was about 95 g/m2 ,

composed of holothurians Trochostoma turgidum - 55 g/m2 , 0.

crispatus - 15 g/m2 and O. sarsi - 11 g/m2 . Further, there

were Phascolion strombi, eternaspis scutata, Dentalium eritale,

Praxillura longissima, Nephtys logosetosa, Amphithrite cirrata

(mean biomass of 1 2 g/m2 ) and others.

Notable is the mixture of bathyal and shallow water

speees: in the straits between the banks the flow of cold

Labrador water has, to a significant extent, expended its

•ri

force, and up to the shallows corne the warm waters of the

Atlantic and their bathyal fauna, Brisaster fragilis and oth-

On a much larger scale the same phenomenon is observed in the

western part of the Barents Sea, in the lestern Trough, where

the warm water of the northern branch of the North Cape Currnt

is sucked under the cold waters of the Bear Current. In the

Western Trough Z.A. Filatova (1938) noted a biocoenosis si.

ilar to ours, Molpadia sp.- gtenodiscus crispaius, in whir

the elements of the various complexes are mixed in the sa.:.e

,way.

In the Sea of Okhotsk a holothurian of the Trochosto.A.

type, together with Ctenodiscus crispabus, enters into the comp-

osition of the biocoenosis Brisaster (Savilov, 1961).

Group of biocoenoses of Brisaster.

This group of biocoenoses was studied by us in greater

detail than ail the others (more than half of the bottom scoop ,

samples were taken here), inasmuch as it is adapted precisely

to those depths at which the main fisheries effort for ocean

perch and cod is carried out. The biocoenoses of the group

Brisaster are diStributed amphiborealy and 9re to be found in

the Barents, Norwegian and Bering Seas and in the Sea of Okhotsk /467

as well as in the north-western part of the Pacific Ocean (Fil-

atova,,1938; Zatsepin, 1962; Faiman, 1960; -enkevich and Filat-

ova, 1958; Deryugin and Ivanov, 1937; Savilov, 1961; Kuznetsov

and Sokolova, 1961; Guriyanova, 1956; Gurtyanova and Kobyakova,

1955),

sulcatoides - Ophiocten sericeum racilis is developed on the

28

In the Atlantic B. fragilis predominates and in the

Pacifie, the closely related species, B. latifrons, and more

rarely, B. townsendi. In the biocoenosis B. fragilis of the

Barents Sea predominant are B. fragilis, Astarte crenata,

O. crispatus, Trochostoma boreale, T. tomsoni, O L_sarsj, and

in the general composition, it is reminiscent of our groupine

B, fragilis - C. crispatus which thrives at the saine depths

and on the same types of bottom. Similar in composition Ells ,

are the biocoenoses of the upper bathyal of the Sea of Okhtsk,

with its predominance of B. latifrons, C. crispatus and holo-

thurians of the Trochostoma type (Savilov, 1961).

In the Northwestern Atlantic the group Brisaster de y

-212p in different water masses and accordingly, makes up ten

different associations.

Biocoenosis Brisaster fragilis - Astarte crenata

•Flamish Cap Bank at depths of 237 - 630 metres (average,339

metres), on silty-sand, more rarely, on sandy-silt. The mean

biomass was 33 g/m2, of which B. fragilis gave 11 g/m2 ,

•Hormatia digitata (one individual which was caught in the

bottom scoop by chance) - 10 g/m 2 , Astarte crenate suloatoides

- 6 g/m2 and others. Of epifauna there was a striking abund-

ance of Fontaster and Ophiocten.

At depths over 330 - 340 metres, the bank is ringed

by a solid zone of warm water corals, feather stars, large

starifishes, Diplopteraster multipes, Solaster earlii and

Tremaster mirabilis, sea lilies, Hathrometra sarsi and other

29

inhabitants of the Atlantic bathyal (Nesis, 1962b).

GroupinK of Spongia - Strongylocentrotus

droebachiensis gphiopholis aculeata.

At depths of 145 - 333 metres (more often at less than

200 metre$),on the sandy bottoms of the Flemish Cap Bank,

there develop considerable numbers of sponges (Genius, Lneyle,

Tentorium semisuberites and others) and sea urchins, Strorzylo-

Q.entrotus droebachiensis, often Onyphis conchylega, PotamIlla

neglecta and other Arctico-boreal and lower Arctico-boreal

animals. Boreal fauna is very scanty, though the basic back-

ground is the same. The mean biomass was 11 g/m2 , of which

sponges made up g/m2 and S. droebachiensis and O. aculeata

1 - 1.2 g/m2 .

Biocoenosis Brisaster fragilis - Ctenodiscus crispatus -

Ophiura sarsi occupies the outer parts of the shelf (depths of

200 - 500 metres), in the North Newfoundland and Labrador

regions, where it forms three groupings, on heavily silted

bottoms, on sand and on stony bottoms.

Grouping of Brisaster fragilis - Ctenodiscus crispatus

is developed in the region of North Newfolmdland, at depths of

270 - 467 metres (average, 333 Metres), on sandy-silt and silt

(three quarters of all the stations), more rarely on silty-

sand. The mean biomass of the association was 102 g/m2 , of

B. fragilis made up 38 g/m2 , C. crispatus, 14 g/m2 . A mean

biomass of from 3 •to 5 g/m2 was contributed by Onuphis

opalina, Psolus Ihantapusi•Maldane sarsi, Lumbriconereis spp.

and others.

Group of Brisester fragilis - Ophiura sarsi is ident-

ified off the shores of Labrador, in the shallows of the North

Newfopndland Bank and on the northern slope of the Grand Bank,

at depths . of 205 - 385 metres (average, 300 metres), on sand

(79% of all the stations) or silty-sand. The mean biomass of

the association - 31 g/m2 , of which B.fragilis made up 18 g/r.

Ophiura sarsi, 2 g/m 2 , complex ascidians, Onuphis conc_hylma4

bryozoans and sponges, 0.5 - 1.5 g/m2 .

Gropping of Spongia - Petamilla neglecta - Bryozoa is

encountered on Belle Isle Bank and on the slope of Hamilton Bank,

at depths of 340 - 350 metres, on sand containing gravel and

shingle. The mean biomass - 67 g/m2 , of which various sponges

made up 37 g/m2 , Potamilla neglecta, 7 g/m2 , bryozoans, 5 g/m2 ,

Astarte crenatà whiteavesii, Leptychaster àrcticus, Ophiura

sarsi and Onuphis conchylega, 1 - 3 g/m 2 .

Characteristic of the trawl samples taken in these

three groupings was the mixture of \warm water and cold water

elements.

Complex of the zone of mixture of Labraàor and Atlantic

waters. On the eastern slope of the Grand Bank of Newfoundland'

the grouping of Brisaster fragilis Ophiura sarsi undergoes a

transition into the complex of the zone of the mixing of Lab-

rador and Atlantic waters. Recretably, from here we derived only

Qualitative samples. The feline is extremely varied e - with

to 100 species of the benthos apPearing even in commercial

trawls.•

Predominant among the cold water and warm water species

are the highly eurrthermic forms,as well as some stenotherric-

warm water,species. Corals.and feather stars, et depths to 50c

metres, are non-existant. In places, sub-littoral forms such

as Echinarachnius parma and Cyrtodaria silinua, extend to uncol:m-

only great depths (400 - 500 metres), so that E. parma is ecoee-

tered quite frequently in the sanie samples with Brisaster fru

ilis (this was also noted for the biocoenosis Trochostoma ture -4-

idum Ctenodiscus crispatus - Ophiura sarsi, but here the B.

fragilis had risen to shallow depths). The fauna preserves this

character right up to the very southern point ("tail") of the

Grand Bank, and even a little further west, to 5i ) - 52° W.

Biocoenosis Brisaster Spongia is encountered

on the south-western slope of the Grand Bank and or the southern

slopes of Green and St. Pierre Banks, at depths of from 150 -

200 to 500 metres. Its upper boundary rises hipher than the

boundary of the preceding complex on the eastern slope of the

Grand Bank. This phenomenon is related to the gmergence of

Atlantic waters onto the shallows, particularly noticeable

on the southern slopes of Green and St. Pierre Banks. Rere

there are verr few cold water elements and more warm water

forms than on the eastern slope of the Grend Bank, and to them

3;;

are . added such stenothermic-warm water forrs as feather stars,

several corals, lilies and others. This biocoenosis is in man-

ways similar to the population of the lower levels (deeper th8n

330 - 540 metres) of Flemish Cap Bank, *though somewhat poorer

in warm water species (Nesis, 1962b and c).

Bioco enosis Brisaster fragilis Ctenodiscus cris -natee

Amphiura otteri Pennatularia is situated in the underweter

depression of the Cabot Strait (the "Laurentian Trough"), e 4 A

depth of over 250 metres. The bottoms consist of clay-silt,

silt, and at the edges of the depression, sandy-silt. The :—ne

biomass - about 35 g/m2 , B. fragilis, C. crispatus and A. ot:,

each having a mean biomass of about 6 g/mL, Astarte crenate

whiteavesii, Lumbriconereis spp. (mostly L. frailis), ketin ,e

and Kophobelemnon (Eukophoelemnon) stelliferurq in the order of

1.5 - 3 g/m2 .

The large number of warm water species and the absence

cold water forms distinguishes this biocoenosis from the group-

ing Brisaster fragilis Ctenodiscus crispatus, and the general

Qualitative poverty and lace of variety in the fauna is the

result of their existence on a very soft bottom, unfavorable

for a large nnmber of species from bioceenosis'B. fragilis -

Onuphis opalina - Astarte crenatawhiteavesii.

Biocoenosis Brisaster fragilis - Onuphis opelina -

Astarte crenata whiteavesii is developed on the continental

slope in the Labrador region, in the re--, ion of North Newfound- /469

land and on the Grand Bank, at depths of 5eC 145 metres

Z4

Group of biocoenoses of Spongia.

Lower bathyal blocoenosis of sponges, is identified on

the eastern slope of Flemish Cap Bank at a depth of 1050 - 1130

metres, on silt and sandy-silt. The mean biomass of the biocoen-

osis (according to two samples) was 1272 g/m2 . Sponges, mainly

Tetraionida (Thenea muricata, Craniella cranium and others) a_d

bryozoans, mainlY Retepora sp., determine 99 •5% of the mean

biomass.

Abyssal complex.We did not sample depths of over 100

metres, but on one of the stations, on the south-western part

of the Grand Bank (44 14.6 N, 5359.3W), the ring-trawl toucheo

the bottom at a depth of 2150 metres and brought up represen-

tatives of the abyssal complex. In the catch were four large

ophiurae, Ophiomusium lymani, one each of the starfishes

Porcellanaster caeruleus, Bathybiaster robustus and Pontaster

foroipatus lmw., three individuals of the sea urchins Pour-

talesta wandeli, •two holothurians,Yipsilothuria talismani

talismani, one young representative of the feather stars ,,Pen-

atula prolifera, one Dentalium solidum and several empty

shells of this species, pieces of Scaphander, one example of

Lumbriconereis sp. and several Phascolion.

All the forms determined down to the species are

characteristic of the Atlantic bathyal and abyss south of the

Greenland-Canadian and Atlantic thresholds.

FEEDING GROUPINGS

Bottom invertebrates can be organized into several

35

feeding groups (Hunt, 1925 and others), E.P. (l'urpaev.a (194,

1953, 1954) showed that the role of the representatives of the

individual feeding groupings in bottom biocoenoses is closely

related to the nature of the sedimentary accumulation. Biocoen-

oses, with a predominance of animals of the one feeding group,

fall into zones, which change regularly with the increase of

depth, throughout the whole extent of the ocean bottom, from

the littoral to the ultra-abyss (Kuinetsov, 1962; Neiman, 1961a,

Savilov, 1961, Sokolova, 1956,1960).

We utilized, as being the most evolved, the classific-

ation of bottom organisms in accordance with the character of /470

their feeding and mobility, proposed bYA.I. Savilov (1961),

and established the following feeding groups: 1) sessile,

attached sestonophages on firm bottoms; 2) sessile, attached

sestonophages on loose bottom soils (unlike Savilov, we do not

include in'this group a range of sabellid polychaetes suoh as

Chone and Potamilla.and such sea lilies as Rhizôcrinus e since

these are oriented to firm bottoms and reasonably strong bottom

currents); 3) mobile sestonophages on firm bottoms; 4) mobile

sestonophages on loose bottom soils; 5) species which gather

detritus ("gatherers"); 6) forms which ingest 'bottom soils

("ingesters"); 7) preying, necrophagourand omnivorous forms.

In placing a species in this or that feeding group (Table 2),

we were guided by the data in the studies of Hunt (1925),

. 4 -*

(averaqe 767 metres), mainly on sandy-silt ',Ind silt (about

80i0 of all the stations). On the Shelf, tl is iocoenosis is

encountered only at a depth of 467 metres, in the depression

separating the Hamilton and Belle isle Banks. It is absent

from the deep (up to 400 - 500 metres) lonitudinal valleys

separating the banks of the outer part of the Shelf from the

shore. On the north-eastern slope of the Grand Bank, where th

edge of the Shelf is found to be at a depth of about 275

metres (Heezen, Tharp, Ewing, 1959), the upper boundary of th's

biocoenosis rises to 360 metres (at depths of 280 - 340 metre,

here, the grouping B. fragilis - Ophiura saisi is noted). Th

mean biomass of the biocoenosis is about 45 vdm2, B. fragilis,

O. opalina and A, crenata whiteavesii have a mean biomass of

about 6 g/m2, Leda pernula, about 5 g/m2 , Lumbriconereis.sup.,

Heteromastqà filiformis, in the order of 1 - 3 g/m2 .

. P-rouping_of_Sponea -___4tarte crenata whiteavsii

Brisaster fragilis is identified at the ve2y same depths (435 -

1480 metres) as for the basic biocoenosis, on silty-sand or

sandy-silt, but with a heavy admixture of stones, gravel and

shingle. The mean biomass was 54 g/m2 , of ielich various Spongia

made up 16 g/m2 , A.c, whiteavesii, B. fragilis •and Didernalua,

albidum, in the order of 3 - 5 g/m2 .

The trawl samples of the last two associations conta-

ined many representatives of bathyal,warm aber fauna.

36

Brand (1927), Thorson . (194l), lbequest,(1949) 1 Ockelftann (1958),

Sokolova and Kuznetsov (1960), KUznetsov and Sokolova (1961), .

Savilov (1961), Sanders et al (Sanders, Mills, Hampson, 1962) -

and Clark (1962).

Table 2

The affiliation of the main species of bottom fauna of the Newfoundland region and feeding groups.

to •oogeogra hic.comulme.

î.. •

•

- BB - SSL

Taxonomic unit 4;.Zoo- -geo. -aff.

Fea- - - aff..

Phylum Spongia _ - SSF Phylum Coelenterata _ -

. Class Hydrozoa _ _ Subclass Hydroidea , ' • - - SSF

' Olass Anthazoa SubolasS Octocorallia . _ _. Order Alcyonaria • - - • Eunephthya glomerata Verrill. - AB -.• P

E. fructicosa (M . Sara) - AB - P ' • • Order Pennatularia - -.

Kophobelemnon (eukophobelemnon) - - • stelliferum (0.F. Muller) .

. • Subclass Hexacorallia - _ . - Order'.Aetiniaria _ _

Hortanthia digitata (0.F. Muller) - AB - ,P . - - EewardSiidae g'. sp. . _ - P

• . Order Zoantharla - 1! Order Ceriantharia - - P

Phylum Nemertint. _ ..- • P Phylum Némathelminthes : _ - P

Class Nematoda , -. - P,'G Phylum Priapulida • ' ' . - -

Priapulus. caudatus Lam. - AB - - G 'Phylum Annelida

. Class Polychaeta . • • - •- - •Subclass Errantia _ _

Leànira tetraàona (Orsted) - BB - P . • .Glycera capitata Orsted - AB ... G

•'

Goniada.maculata Orsted ... BS - P Ceratocephala loveni Malmgren - BB .4 P?

.Nephthys paradoxa Malmgren - AB .4. P . • • N. longosetosa Orsted • - AB à* P

N. Malmgreni'Theel _ 413 .. p 'Eunice aff..orstedi Stimps. . ..... tB - P • E.:aff. .benedicti Stimps.. ..f. BB. - p

• 'Onuphis.conchylega M. Sars AB - G?

37

Table 2 .(Contid)

O. opalina Verill - LB - G? C. aff. quadricuspis Sans _ ? - G? Lumbriconereis spp. ? - I

Subclass Sedsntaria ScOloplos armiger (0.F. Muller) - A3 - G Laonice cirrata (M. Sans) - AB - G Prionospio malmgreni Clap - LB - G Cirratulidae gg. Spp. ? - C Stylarioides plumosus (0.F. Muller)- AB - I Diplocirrus hirsutus (Hansen) - AB - Brada *illosa (Rathke) - AB - I

• Eumenia crassa Orsted - AB - I Travisia forbesii Johnston - AB - I Ophelia limacina (Rathke) - AB - I Notemastus sp. - AB - I Hetermastus filiformis (Clap) - BB - Maldane sarsi Malmgren - AB - 1

• Praxillella gracilis (M. Sans) - AB - I P. praetermissa (Malmgren) - AB - I Praxillura longissima Arvidsson - AB - I Nicomache lumbricalis (O. Fabr.) - AB - I Owena fusiformis Delle Chiaje - AB - I

• Sternaspis scutata (Ranzani) - AB - G Pectinaria (Cistenides) granulata

(L) - AB - G Melinna cristata (M. Bars) - AB - G Amphicteis gunneri Sans) - AB - G Terebellides stroemi M. Sars - AB - G Pista cristata (0.F. Muller) - AB - G Amphitrite cirrata (O. F. Muller) - AB - Neoamphithrite affinis (Malmgren) - AB - P,G

• Thelepus cincinnatus (O. Fabr.) - AB - $SF Potamilla neglecta (M. Sans) - AB - SSF Jasmineira schaudini Augener AM - SSL Chone duneri Malmgren - AB - $SF

' Ch. infundibuliformis Kroyer - AB - SSF • Spirorbis spp. - AB - $SF Class Archiannelida -

aff. Polygordius sp. - BS - G Class Sipunculida • Golfingia aff, margaritacea (M.Sars) AB - I

Phasoolion strombi (Montagu) _ AB - I Phylum Arthropoda

Class Crustacea Order Cirripedia Balanus crenatus Brug. - AB - SSF

Order Cumacea Diastylis goodsiri (Bell) - A - MSL

38

Order Amphipoda - - Eippomedon propinquus G.O. Sars - AB - I Amphiporeia lawrenciana Shoemaker - BS - G Haploops setosa Boeck - AB -, G Ampelisca eschrichti Kroyer - AB - G Casco bigelowi Shoemaker - BS - G

Order Decapoda - - Hyas coarctarus Leach - LAB - P Pagurus bankensis Nesis, nom. nov. - - pro. P. pubescens Stimpson not Kroyer BS - P

Phylum Mollusca - - Class Loricata - -

Lepidopleurus asellus (Chemn.) - BS - G Tonicella mermorea (Fabr.) - LAB - P T. rubra (L.) - BS - P

Class Gastropoda - - Natica clausa Brod. et Sow - AB - P Tachyrlynchus erosus erosus (Couth) - AB - MSL Arrhoges occidentalis (Beck) - AB - ML Buccinum meriodale Verkr. - BS - p B. terrae-novae Beck - AB - P B. aff. ciliatum (O. Fabr.) - A? - P B. aff. belcheri Reeve - A - P Sipho verkruzeni Kobelt - A - P S. ventricosus (Gray) - BS - P

Class Scaphopoda - - • Dentalium entale L. - BB - G

D. occidentale Stimpson - BB - P •Class Bivalvia - -

Leda pernula (0.F. Muller) - AB - G - Yoldia myalis Couth - LB - G

Y. hyperborea hyperborea (Lov,) - A - G Y. (Megayoldia thraciaeformis Storer- LAB - G Yoldiella intermedia (M. Sars) - A - G

• Arca (Bathyarca) glacialis Gray - AB - MSL Limopsis minuta Philippi - BB - MSL

• Chlamys islandica (0.F. Muller) - LAB - MSF Arvella glandula (Totten) . - BS - SSF •Astarte borealis (Chemn.) - A - MSL A. montagui (Dillwyn) - A - MSL A. elliptioa (Brown) - AB - KSL A. crenata whiteavesii Dall. - BD - MSL

• A, crenata sulcatoides Nesis - BD - MSL A. aff. polaris pall. - A - MSL • Cyprina islandica L. - ES - MU, •Mesodesma arctatum Conrad - BS - MSL Spisula pulynyma polynyma Stimpson - LAB - MSL Gomphina fluctuosa (Gould) • - A - MSL Macoma calcarea (Chemn.) - AB - G Periploma fragilis (Totten) - A - MSL Cuspidaria glacialis G.O. Sars - A - P

ionalis Couth.- AB - SSF

M. - Sars

(Retz.) - AB - (M.Sars) - BB - I hebitus Sladen- BB -

WM,

- AB - G

- BB - SSE leg

: LAB MSL

- AB - MSF • - LAB - MSY - BS - SSF - BB - I . - BB - I

? SSF - ? - $SF - AB - SSF

- BS P

1.1

,

Table 2 (Cont'd).

Phylum Bryozoa - - SSF Phylum Brachiopoda

Terebratulina septentr Phylum Echinodermata

Class Crinoidea Rhizocrinus lofotensis

Class Asteroidea Ctenodiscus crispatus Leptychaster arcticus Pontaster teniuspinus

Class Orhiuroidea Ophiura sarsi Lutken

Ophiopholis aculeata (L.) Ophiocantha bidentata (Retz.) Amphiura otteri Ljungman A. fragilis Verrill

Class Echinoidea Echinarachnius parma (Lamarck) Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis -

(0.F. Muller) - AB - P Brisaster fragilis (Dub. et Mûr.) - BB -

Class Holothurioidea - - Psolus phantapus (L.) Struss Cucumaria frondosa Gunn Stereoderma unisemita (Stimpson) Trochostoma turgidum (Verrill) Hedingia albicans (Theel)

Phylum Chordata Glass Ascidiacea

Monascidia gg. spp. Synascidia gg. spp. Didemnium albidum ( -Verrill)

Class Pisces Ammodytes americanus De Key

Legend: A ..arctiq; BB , - boreal bathyal; ,BS - boreal sub-littoral; . AB - arctico-boreal; LB - lower arctico-boreal; SSF - sessile -sestonophage, firm bottoms; MSF - - mobile sestono-phage, firm bottomâ;• SSL - sessile séstohophage, loose bottoms; MSL - mobile sestonoPhage, loose bottoms; G - gatherer of det-ritus; 1 - ingéster . of bottom soils; . P - preying, necrophagous and omnivorous forms

_

O. robusta (Aires) AB - G Ophiocten sericeum gracilis (G.O.Sars) BB p

- LAB MSF - AB - G - BB - - BB - G

40

We determinadthe membership of a biocoenosis in a /473

feeding grouping in the following manner: we combined the

data on the feed type of the le'ading form of the biocoenosis

with the data on the dominance of this or that feeding grouping

amongst the whole group of the leading and characteristic spec-

ies of the biocoenosis (Table 3).

On the chart showing the distribution of feeding ;roupu

(fig. 6), we combined the feedine groupings of the sessile and

mobile sestonophages of the firm bottoms, inasmuch as they aro

similar ecologically (Turpaeva, 1954, 1957; Savilov, 1961).

A.A. Neiman (1961a), on the basis of his own materiu'L

and material available in the literature, constructed a pa-U-

ern of the distribution of benthos on shelves of various.types.

On wide, platform-like shelves, the upper sub-littoral is occ-

upied b3/ a zone of filter-sesbonophages, followed deeper by

zones in which predominant are detritus :,:eltberars and bottom

soil ingesters; on the edge of the shelf there is again a zone

of filterers, and on the continental slope, a zone of ingesters.

In our area, we would have to designate as beine of the

wide, platform type, the shelf off Labrador and the northern

part of Nawfoundland. Observed here is the following pattern

of the distribution of feeding zonas (see fig. 8); at the

very shore, overgrowth fauna (sessile sestonophaees of firm

bottoms); further out, a mixed zone of mobile sestonophages of

loose bottoms and gatherers; and then a zone of ingesters. On

41

the outer edge of the shelf there is an incrIse in the ro i.

of the gatherers (Ophiura sarsi) and nakjn , thr clrypearance

are individual patches of sessile sestonor, s of firm sub-

strata (Spongia Potamilla neRlecta - 731TozPa). Occupying the

predominant position on the slope is the zone of inee,ers. Ai

of this is very reminiscent of the pattern deri.ved by 17eiman,

except that not all the zones are present in a "pure form".

The shelf of the eastern and soutrn rart of the

Grand Bank is considerably narrower, the contleiental slope e.

steep and cut into by a multitude of erater eanyons, ar'

the area is tectonically active (well knovin is the ewfound-

land earthquake of 1929). In genere, tHs region cohes close

to being a geosynclinal •type of shelf with shallow slopes. For

such shelvesà. Neiman'proposes the fellOwinçr. Pattern: the

zone of the filterers of the upper sub-littoral is widened, the

zone of the gatherers becomes narrower snfl is roved to a creater

depth, and the zone of the ingesters is nerrovied to the point

of complete disappearance.

• On the Grand Bank of 1:ewfoundland nd ;re e n and St. Pierre

Banks we have, in the upper sub-littoral, a zone of sestonophages

of firm bottoms or a zone of mobile sestonophaes of loose

• bottoms thouqh with an increased role of Te sestonophages Of

firm bottoms (cucumaria, sea mussels). Lyinc deeper is the

Strongly defined zone of mobile, loose bottom sastonophages

in the 1owet layers of which thare is a sllarp increase (from

•••• OM.

- 11-7 7.7- 012- 0.1-

- 2.8-6 9,1-120- I4--39i- ZZ- 44- - -

2 7.2-341....

•w-12.6-4u,

- -16.5-80.1-

2Q- I.3-385-

-5%0- - -104- 6.5- 28-

- 411- - - 4P- 3.6-112-75.8-

-. 94,7- - 12- 2.4-124-92.2- -78.1- 15- - 5,1- 9.3- 35-

- C18-

- -104- ?2-l9,9-

- - - - -10.2-25.3-50.5- -99.4 q2 - -

4 L,

the individual feed groupings in bottom biocoenoses /474 (in % of the overall biomass) .

Role o

Biocoenoses - Feed groupings

-SSF-SSL-MSF-MSL- G -

-Chara-Ind- . -cter -ex of -of bi,unif-- - P -ocoen-ormity - -cals

97,8-q04-0,06- Cucumaria-Rhodophyta - 16- - -958 Mesodesma-Cucumaria-Mytilus- - 7 - Echinarachnius-AMmOdytes - 01- - Echinarachnius-Strongylo- centrotub-0. sarsi - 414- -

Thelepus-Chlamys-Ophiopholis44,,3-.- Astarte-montagui-Macoma • calcarea -11e- - Ctenodiscus crispatus- • Actiniae - - -

Trochostoma*turgidum-Ctenodiscus-0. Sarsi

•BrisastérAstarte . crénata-Ophiocten. .SPongia-Strongylocentrotus,

Ophiopholis Brlsaster fragilis- • Ctenodiscus crispatus BrisaSter fragilis-- 'Ophlura:sarsi

Spongia-Potamilla7Bryozoa Brisaster-Onuphis opalina-

. Astarte crenata Spongia-Astarte crenata- Brisàster

Brisaster-Ctenodiscus- Amphiura otteri •

.Spongia

25- SF - 7.1 ao- MSL 7.4

2011ele MSL - 4.7

MSL - 3.3 116- SF - 2.0

2 2,e-SSF:G- 1.0

3 7,3- I - 2.3

30- I - 4.8

39.ef I - 1.9

2 3- SF ,- 2.3

2.5- I - 4.1

2.1- I - 3.7 25- SF - 4.4

.36- I - 1.6

10.9- SF - 1.7

ap-.. I - 1.8 01- .SF - 7.8

Legend: SF - sestonophages are the same as in

of firm bottoms; remaini Table 2.

ng designations

*Of which AmmodyteS, 17..5% **Including one chance appearance of aflormathia, 32.0%.

0.2 to 12.7%) of the role of the detritus gathering forms. A

zone, of gatherers on the shelf:is non-existant. On the upper , . , • • _ .

. part of the continental slope there is an ablindange of .sessile, . .

4,5*

4,

43

firm bot.tom sestonophages, and deeper, a zone of ingesters.

On the Flemish Cap Bank, the zone of sessile, firm

bottom sestonophages undergoes a direct transition into a zone

of ingesters (as in fig. 40 from the work of A.A. Neiman, 1961a.).

The change of feeding zones on shelves Of various types in our

area, is the sanie as in the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, L 4

even though not all the zones appear in "pure form".

so° 45° de

" • • S011 —

- Î.00

.500

?le

rei

,:rçAet

1. 6: 61

70 6 ss ,- • .60° s

,

• L.., 1 • • •

I • (.• • •

4 ,-a *S •

f

se

70 ° 65 50 ° se so° • Fig.6distribution of feeding groupings ot benthos

in' the NeWfoundland - Labrador region. 1 - sessile and mobile sestonophages of. firm bottoms; 2 Mobile sestonophages àf loose bottoms; 3 - mobi]e, loose bottom sestbno-phages and detritus gathering forms; 4 - soil ingesting forms...

Let us return to the question of why the curve of

the decrease of the biomass with depth differs from a hyperbola

(see fig. 4). In the work of Odum and his co-authors (Odum,

Cantlon, Kornicker, 1960), it was shown that the distribution

of the members of any association in accordance with quantitative

indicators (the number of species or the number of individuals),

will have the form of a hyperbola (in logarithmic coordinates,

the form of a straight line) only if the association is homo-

geneous. Where we have a mixture of two associations,the curve

of the distribution of the,members of the association under

study will differ frbm a hyperbola (in logarthmic coordinates /476,

the graph will have the form of a.broken line). Let us try to

apply this situation to a region of the sea containing several

biocoenoses. We can consider as a normal, that is a homogeneous

•"association", a region where there is a regular change and full

development, on the shelf and in the upper bathyal, of all the

feeding zones (as it is observed in all areaswhere the decrease

of the biomass with depth follows a hyperbola, the Barents S'a,

•the north-western part of the Bering Sea, the waters of the

Antarctic), that is, where there is a strong development and a

high biomass of filterers, gatherers and ingesters and a corres-

ponding change in the nature of the bottom of the shelf (the

replacement of course grained firm ground by fine gfained soft

groinad, an increased role of course grained ground on the bend

of the shelf and in the upper bathyal, and then again its

45

displacement by fine grained ground on the continental slope

("Sovremennye osadki..."; "Modern sediments.", 1961). At tho

same time, in regions with well defined and regular transition

of trophic zones, but with a poor development of phytoplankton

and a low primary production (the eastern part of the Bering

Sea and the Labrador region), the belt of filterers of the

upper sub-littoral has an abnormally low biomass, and the max-

imum biomass moves to the lower levels of the sub-littoral. In

regions with a high primary production but a lowered intensity

of modern sediment formation in the lower sub-littoral and the

upper bathyal„ that • s, on geosynclinal shelves, the biomass at

depths of 100 - 500 metres will be. unusually low ( the Grand

Bank of Ngwoundland, and in part, the south-eastern part of the

Bering Sea), and the zone of high biomass will change sharply

to a zone of low biomass. In these areas the curve of the dec-

rease of the biomass with depth will be the saine as for hetero-

geneous associations, We do not have the data for a sufficiently

full substantiation of the hypothesis presented above.

The degree of the complexity of the feeding structure

of the biocoenosis we characterize in the term "index of unif-

'ormity", or the dispersion of feeding groupings of a given bio-

coenosis related to the least of the values of dispersion for

all biocoenoses (-q-) ; with the dispersions being calculated , crmin

from the data in Table 3. The lower the magnitude of dispersion,

the more varied is the structure of the biocoendsis. man idealiy

Index of uniformity

Biomass of the dominant species ( % of overall)

Mean biomass of the biocoenosis, g/m2 . From-To Mean

46

varied bioconosis all the feeding groupings have the sanie blomass

and the dispersiin of the leeding groupings will be equal tu

zero.

The lowest dispersion, that is, the most varied struc-

ture, turned out to be for the biocoenosis Astarte montaomi

•acoma calcarea, the only biocoenosis wbich was related to a

combined feeding group. It was accepted as the unit of measure-

ment.

The most uniform feeding structures were found to be

in the biocoenoses Spongia, resodesma - Cucumaria - Myt,ilus and

Cucumaria RhoeophTta, in which more than 95% of the biomass

consisted of the representatives,of one feeding grouping. If

we compare the mean biomass of the biocoenosis with the index

of uniformity and the proportion of the dominant form in the

overall biomass, we arrive at a very important conclusion: the

higher the biomass of the biocoenosis, the more simple and

uniform is its structure, and the greater the role that is

played in the biocoenosis by one (dominant) species.

Under 50 30 2.0+0.32 31.4 • 50-200 92 3.4+0.50

200-1000 511 ' 5.9+1.2 78.2

Over 1000 1419 7.6+0.2 97.5

'alien the biomass of a single species constitutes more /477,

than 90% of the overall biomass of a biocoenosis, it is on the

way to being transformed into a monocoenosis. -

Utilizing the data of V.I. Zatsepin (1962). Neiman

(1980) and V.P. Vorob'ev (1949), we compared the mean biomass

.of the biocoenoses with the proportion of the predominant

species. It was discovered that in the biocoenoses of the Bar-

ents and Bering Seas and in the Sea of Azov, that is, both in

polymict and in oligomict biocoenoses, the role of the predom-

inant species increases with the growth of the mean biomass.

A comparison of biomasses and the inJicies of uniformiy

of biocoenoses, related to various feeding zones, leads to a

second important conclusion: the biocoenoses of sesbonophages

are richer and .more uniform than the biocoenoses of detrito-

pbaaes. In the Northwestern Atlantic the meen biomass of sestono-

phage biocoenoses is 453 g/m 2 , and the rlean index of uniformity

is 4.5 ± 0.8; for detritophage (gatherers and ingesters) bio-

coenoses the mean biomass is 54 g/m2 (eirPht imes less), and the•

index of uniformity is 2.65 .4- 0.5 (1.7 tines less). In the Bar-

ents and Bering Seas (Turpaeva, 1957; ,atsepin, 1962; Neiman,

1960, 1961a), the biocoenoses of sesbonopha-es are similarly

riéher and more uniform than the biocoenoses of detritophages.

The sestonophage biocoenoses flourish in zones of lowered int-

ensity of sediment aCcumulation, where the vast majority of food

particles are suspended in the layers of water above the bottom

and the bottom is poor in organic matter. For this reason, food

speializabion becomes a major.factor, and only one feeding group

can develop; however the abundance of food leads to its riotous

40:

proliferation and the creation of a ridjpough non-diversifid

biocoenosis. Characteristic of the zones of heavier accumula-Uon

of sediment, besides the relative meagreness of the food, is the

variety of the sources of food; organic:matter here is contained

in tb.e layers of water adjacent to the bottom, on the surface of

the'gimurid and in the depths of the soil. For this reason the

competition between the animal forms for food has'brought about

the development of feeding specializations, and a complication

of the structures of biocoenoses, U.N. , Sokolova (1960) considers

the approX‘imately ecual development . of the representatives of

the detritophages sestohophaes and preying forms as being's

characteristic feature Of zones of-more intense sediment accum

ulation,-both in bathyal and.abyssal areas.

A.un.iform biocoenosis, with a simple feed structure, ,

çan utilize rich reserves of food effectively, since the loss

of- energy in a simple feed structure is not ;7;reat. However, this

simplicity is accompanied a lowering of the stability of the

biocoenosis, simple systems beincz less stable. As a result, •uch

biecoenoses experience sharp.variationS in the biomass wlth the

• onset - of unfavorable conditions. Poorer, but - diverSified bio-

coenoses s are significantly more stable. .

As à result of our.deliberations.ue come.to the'conc- •

. lusion that eXternall abiotic:factors,- the relief of the bottom,

climate, the system of currents, the structure bf the water mass

and the.degree of the . dynamicity of the water, determine the

the evolutionary trend of sea bottom ecosystems. It eterri cL,

whether this evolution will move towards bl e creation of an

ecosystem, developed on the principle of the least mutual ini3r-

dependence of its constituent members, stable but of relatively

low productivity, or whether it will move toward the developun'

of a system with a sharp predominance of one or a‘few species,

unstable but hif2hly productive. The movement of the evolution

of an ecosystem and itsiresults, are deterrlined by biotic factors,

the interrelationships between the members of a given ecosysem

and between.it and neighboring ecosystems. Inter-specific and

intra-specific relationships, within the parameters of the eel-

system, are the final deterMinants of the biocoenosis and, in

particular, its feeding structure.

THE ZOOGEOGRAPII Y "OF '2 11E NORTM;EST E AT LANT I C AND THE

RELATIONSIIP OF THE BErnos To ATER MASSES /478,

.The Northwestern Atlantic_is situated on th éi boundary

between the Boreal. and Arctic regions. Part of the body of water

studied by us belongs to the lower Arctic sub-region of the

Arctic region, the sub-Arctic of Dunbar and Stephenson (Dunbar,. •

1054 and T.A.and A. Stephenson, 1954), and the ,other part„to,

the American Sub,region of the Atlantic Boreal • egion (the

>American.boreal,. which is the Acadian, or the Province of Nova

Scotia .:Coomans, 1962) or- to the transitional sub-Arctic-bereal

region (Bousfield, 1956). The aim of our zoogeographical anal-

ysis is . to accurately establish the 'boundary of the ArcticYand

Boreal zones in the Northwestern Atlantic and the character Of

Arctic species

Arctic zonele •

Ller Arctic Sub-Zone sub-Zone

'Boreal zone

1Lower Arctico-boreal species -Y

High Arctic Lower Arcticl species species Boreal species

Arctico-Jporea species

50

the fauna of , the transitional regio. For this we made use or

the terminology of N. Hofsten (1915), and divided all animal

forms.present in quantity and identified to the species (see

Table 2), into groups: Arctic, Arctico-boreal. lower Arctico-

boreal and boreal (sub-littoral and bathyal).

The boundaries of the zones and sub-zones correlate

well with the mid-yearisotherms: the boundary of the high

Arctic and lower Arctic sub-zones with the eisotherm, the

boundary of the Arctic and boreal zones with the 5° isotherm.

In the bathyal, where the temperature of the water remains

constant throughout the year, the eisotherm serves as the

boundary for the Arctic and boreal zones (Blacker, 1957), for

.the high Arctic -and lower Arctic sub-zones it is again, appar-

ently, the eisotherm.

The groups studied by us, as distinct from generally

held views, characterize first of all, the relationship of the

fauna to temperature, and not their range or place of origin : .

51

and so on. As a result of this kind of analysis we derive

information on the landscape-geographical divisions of the

body of . water under study, rather than on the genesis of its

fauna.

In the bottom scoop samples we discovered no high

Arctic or lower Arctic species; the latter are probably few

in number in any event.

For the region as a whole, of particular significance

are the Arctico-boreal species (see Table 4), which in general,

is peculiar to those parts of the world's seas that are situ-

ated close to the boundary of the Arctic and boreal zones. Thus,

In the Newfoundland region, as in the Barents Sea (Zatsepin,

1962), Arctico-boreal species predominate in the lower Arctic /479

biocoenoses. We consider these biocoenoses as being lower

Arctic, and not Arctico-boreal, because the dominant species

in them, even though encountered in boreal waters, are never

dominant there, so that the distribution of these biocoenoses

is limited by the Arctic.

An increased role of Arctic species is observed in,

besides the biocoenosis Astarte monta2,ui nacoma calcarea,

the biocoenosis Echinarachnius parma - Strongylocentrotus

droebachiensis Ophiura sarsi, located under the influence

of the main stream of the Labrador Current and other cold

currents.

The results obtained permit the establishment of a

boundary between the Arctic and boreal zones in the Northwestern

Atlantic (Mize 7).

52

Zoogeographical complexes

A - AB - LAB- BB - BS - Ma,

-Charac--teristic

? -of bio- . -coenosis

Biocoenoses

3.5-21.3- 7 -31.2- - -44.0- BB

- -29.9- 1.7-61.4- - - 7.0- BB - 047 - - 0.3- - -99.6- BD

- - - - 0.6- BB

- -14.2-10.4-18.4- - -57.0- BB

1.6-38.1- 2.4-52.2- - - 5.7- BB

- -19.3- - -70.0- - -10.7- BB

1.1-20.1- - -11.2- - -67.7- BB

1.0-33.6- 0.7-59.3- - - 5.4- BD

Table 4.

The role of the representatives of separate zboeographical com-plexes in bottom biodoenoses, (in .% of overall biomass)

Cucumaria frondosa-Rhodophyta - Mesodesma-Cucumaria-Mytilus - Echinarachnius-AmmOdytes Echinarachnius-Strongylocent-

rotus-0. sarsi .

- - 2.7-95.8- - 7 0.1- - - 0.2- 3.4777.6-

6.3-24,6-65.1-

-- - 0.1- 1.4- LAB - -99.7- 0.2- BS - -18.7- 0.1- LAB

- 0.1- 3.9- LAB - - -19.5- LAB

- - - - 9.5- LA - 1.5-39.6- - IA

-60,2- 0.7- 2.2- BB

Thelepus-ChlaMys 7Ophiopholis - 1.6-35.3-43.6- Astarte Montagui2MaCôma calc

. area -22.7-65.2- 2.6- CtenodisCus erispatus-Actiniae- 2.1-58.8- - Troohostoilia tureidum-Ctenodis-

cus70. sarsi' • - - 736.9- - Brisaàter-Astarte

Ophiocten . Spongia-StrongylOcentrotus-

Ophiopholis .

Brisaster fragilis- Ctenodiscus crispatus

Brisaster . Ophiura sarsi

Spongia-Potamilla-Bryozoa Brisaster-OnuphiS opalina-

Astarte crenate. Spongia-Astarte crenata, Brisaster

Brisaster-Ctenodiscus-Amphiura otteri

Spongia.

.Legend: A - Arctic; - :LA - lower Arctic; AB - Arctico-bôrear; LAB.- lower Arctico7boreal; BS boreal sub-littoral; BD -

bathyal; 7 not determined to species. . .

The location of this bàundary in areas not studied by

us, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off the coast of the Island

of Newfoundland,- J.S . given in accordance with Bousfield e (1956 ). ,

53

Brunel (1961b) and Hedgpeth (1957), and off Northern Labr ador,

by extrapolation, taking into acconnt bottom relief and hydro-

logical data. As a matter of convention we show the boundary

as a line, though it has the character of a fairly wide belt

of mixed fauna. This belt is especially wide in the region of

North Newfoundland where the boreal biocoenosis Brisaster fra-

cilis - Ctenodiscus crispatus - Actiniae undergoes a smooth

transition into the lower Arctic biocoenosis Ctenodiscus cris-

patus - Actiniae. To a significant extent, Arctic forms pene-

trate the limits of lower Arctico-boreal biocoenoses (indicated

by arrows in fig. 7.

The lower Arctico-„boreal-srecies Echinarachnius parme,

Cucumaria frondosa, Chlamys islandica and Ophiopholis aculeata

are north-boreal in origin, and for this reason we,assign bio- /480

coenoses made up of these forms to the boreal zone.

In this way we assign to the Arctic zone (the luwer

Arctic sub-zone), the coastal regions of Labrador and North

Newfoundland which are under the influence of the coastal•

stream of the Labrador Current, and the remalning part of the

region, to the boreal zone.

On the Grand Bank of Yewfoundland, boreal species pre-

dominate at depths up to 50 metres, at the expense of sub-

littoral forms, and beyond 225- 250 metres, at the expense of

bathyal forms; and at intermediate depths, especially at depths /481

from 90 - 100 to 25- 250 metres, Arctic species are particularly,

• • 54

*significant, while boreal snecles are almost non-existant. A

completely analagous phenomenon is noted in the Bering Sea by

A.A. Neiman (1961b) and off the -shores of Famchatka and the

northern Mello Islands by A.P. Kuznetsov (1961). .

Fig. 7. The distribution of zoogew:raphioal complexes of bents in the Newfoundland-Labrador regio.

1 - lower Arctic biocoenoses; 2 - sub-littoral boreal biocoenoses; 3 - bathyal boreal biocoenoses. 4 - lower Arctico-boreal bio-coenoses; 5 - boundary of the

biocoenoses; and boreal zones (broken line

for the boundary in accordance to the literature or extrapolation); 6 - region of the penetration of Arctic species into the limits of lower Arctico-boreal biocoenoses.

55

Among the sub-littoral boreal species, most are fol-ls

which are distributeel only in the north-western part of the

Atlantic: of the twelve boreal sub-littoral forms identified

to species, shown in Table 2, such forms number nine (75).

Among the bathyal boreal forms, forms endemic to the Northwestern

Atlantic are considerably fewer: of 21 accurately identified

species (see Table 2), they included tIATO species, Onuphis opa-

1ina and Trochostoma turgidium (if the latter is not identical

to some Eastern Atlantic trochostoma) and two sub-species of

Astarte crenata. There are very few forms, endemic to the

Northwestdrn Atlantic, among Arctico-borealforms (exnmples

.of such are Arrhoges occidentalis and Sipho stimpsoni), and

non among Arctic forms.

In moving from the north to the south the difference

in the shelf fauna of the western and eastern parts of the

Atlantic increases, a fact which had already been noted by

Loven in the middle of the last century. The endemic forms

of the Northwestern Atlantic play a very small part in the

benthos of the Newfoundland - Labrador Shelf, but their sig-

nificance increases on the Grand Bank, and in the shallowest

.parts of the Bank and off the shores of Nova Scotia they

finally assume the predominant position. In the bathyal this

phenomenon is expressed rather weakly. Here, to the north

and to the south of the study area, the role of the forms

endemic to the Northwestern Atlantic, is almost equal, and

only off Nova Scotia do their numbers increase to any. extent.

The reason for this is the smaller difference in the tempera-

ture regime between the northern and southern parts of the

region at bathyal depths, compared to the sub-littoral. Sur-

face temperatures off Central Labrador and off Nova Scotia

differ, in summer, by 20° , but at a depth of 300 metres, only

br 4° .

The distribution of water masses in the Yorthwestern

Atlantic has, until now, been studied rather poorly. Existing

descriptions of the distribution of water masses were insuff-

iciently detailed (L;amaev, 1960; Hachey, 1954). Vie had prev-

iously published (Nesis, 1962b) some data on the distribution

of water masses in the bottom layers of water for the upper

bathyal region (on the basis of data on the distribution of

warm water corals and feather stars). Having supplemented this

with data for the sub-littoral, we present an overall picture

of the distribution of water masses in the layers adjacent to

the bottom (fig. 8). It will be understood that this can only

be a preliminary and approximate representation.

We distinguish the following types of water: 1) Arc-

tic water of the coastal and main streams of the Labrador

Current; 2) deep sub-Arctic waters of the Labrador circula-

tion; 3) surface sub-Arctic waters of the Flemish Cap branch;

4) bank waters of the Newfoundland Banks and Nova Scotia;

5) modified deep waters of the continental slope; 6) deep

5'7

sub-Arctic waters mixed with the waters of the slope; 7) d-ei

waters of the St. Lawrence Trough and Cabot Strait (they are

distinguished from the waters of the south-western slope of

the Grand Bank by a decreased level of water exchange in the

bottom layers); 8) waters of the Cabot Current (freshened

and relatively cold, especially in winter, coastal '-aters,

flowing out of the Gulf of St. Lawrence); 9) deep and botbor

waters of the North Atlantic.

On the basis of the data presented above, on the comp-

osition of. fauna and the zoogeographical affiliations of bottom

associations, it is possible to establish accurately, the water

mass in which one or another biocomnosis develops.

Both lower Arctic biocoenoses are found in Labrador /482,

waters, as well as biocoenosis Echinarachnius parma Strongylo-

centrotus droebachiensis - Ophiura sarsi of the Newfoundland

regioh, with its characteristic increased role of Arctic species.

Developing in the reP. ion where deep sub-Arctic maters predom-

inate is the biocoenosis Brisaster frailis Onuphis opalina -

Astarte crenâta whiteavesii. Characte3 - istic of the area, where

these two water masses mix are the qroupings Brisaster

Ctenodiscts crispatus, Brisaster.- Ophiura sarsi, Spongia

latamilla.z_nryonaand the complex of the mixed Labrador and

sub-Arctic waters of the eastern slope of the Grand Bank, which

are characterized by the simultaneors existence of warm mater

and cold water species, accompanied b: a sharp impoverishment

of the warm water complex.

58

ar se ar se gr

8. Preliminary chart of the distribution of water types in the bottom layers according to data on the distribution of the benthos.

. 1 - Arctic waters of the Labrador Current; 2 - deep sub-Arctic waters of the Labrador circulation; 3 - bank waters of the Newfoundland Bank 0 and Nova Scotia; 4 - deep sub-Arctic waters mixed with the waters of the slope; 5 - modified deep waters of the continental slope; 8 - deep waters of the St. Lawrence Trough and Cabot Strait; 7 - aters of the Cabot Current; 8 - surface sub-Arctic waters of the Flemish Cap branch; 9 - deep and bottom waters of the North Atlantic. Overlapping markings indicate areas in which there is a mixing of water masses of different oritYins.

Fig.

Oriented to the surface waters of the 71emish Cap

•branch is the srouping Spongia- StronsTlocentrotus Ophio-

pholis aculeata, in which there are no cold water forms, tiough

few even of warm water forms. The lower reaches of the biocoen-

osis Brisaster - Astarte crenata sucatoides Ophiocten sericeum

:racilis is tied to the deep sub-Arctic waters with an admiYiure

of the waters of the slope, and the upper, to the zone where

these waters mix with the waters of the -d'lemish Cap branch. It

is possible that the waters of the slope mix with deep sub-

Arctic waters also on the eastern slope of the Grand Bank, at

depths of over 500 metres, but we have insufficient data on

this area.

The Arctic waters of Labrador do noh flow on to the

Flemish Cap. Bank (Nesis, 1962 a,b,c). To this is related the

sharp difference in the benthos between the Flemish Cap Bank

and the nearer parts of the Grand Bank. The benthos of Flemish

Cap Bank is deprived of both Arctc cold water forms and the

more warm water lower Arctico-boreal forms, with a Pacific -

North Atlantic distribution (these are linked to bank and Lab-

rador waters which do not overflow Flemish Cap). The strait

between Flemish Cap and the Grand Bank consbitutes an imapass-

able obstacle not only for bottom fauna; but it presents a

serious Lmpediment even for the distribution of fish: Flemish

Cap Bank is inhabited by a special form of deepwater redfish,

(Yànulov, 1962), a special population of cod (Templeman, 1962;

• Postolakii, 1962), and capelin and sand eel, abundant on the

Grand Bank, are totally lacking. The waters:which wash Fle.js

Cap are oceanic. To their influence is linked the abundance•f

globigerina in. the bottom sediments of rlemish Cap (globiger- , -

inal sediments are noted only in ocean zones ("1,10dern sed-

• . iMents... 1961). .

To the bank waters of the Newfoundland Banks is oriented

the biocoenosis Mesodesma arctatum - Cucumaria frondosa

edulis, and possiblY the biodoenosis Cucunaria frondosa

_Ihyta; here there are no cold.water forms, and many boreal

upper sul2-1ittore1 forms .(Nesis,' 19(52a,b). The biocoenosis

Echinarachnius parma - Ammodytes ammericanus, in the Newfoundland

region, develops in the zone where bank and labrador waters tix,

and Off1.7ova Scotia, in bank Waters.

To the modified waters of the sloPe is linked the bio-

coenosis Brisaster fragilis Spongia. These:waters,.together

with those of Labrador, put tbeir staiu On te.biocoenosis

Trgichostoma turgidum - Ctenodiscus crlspatus ..- OPhiUra saisi,

and enter the shallows of the Grand Bank•frorn - he south west. .

In the region between - the "tail" of th Grand bank and hale

Trough; . there are very few cold water.forp2.s. The waters pi' the

•elope engender the distinct character of the upper bathyal com-

. plex of the slopes of Sable Island Bank and Banquereali Bank

(Nesis,'.1962b). The waters of the Cabot Current-influence the

benthos off Cape Breton Island (at depths of - less than 100.

metres) and, to a considerably lesser extent,.onthe easterh

61

and southern slopes of Bangereau Bank (at depths of 150 -

• .200 T -etres).

The pattern of the vertical distribution of waters

of various types, accordin to , the distribution of

of bottom fauna.

The re;7, ion of Labrador and »cpr -b::.rn 7ewfound1and.

Depth up to 200 - 25 0 metres - Labrador waters;

from 200 - 250 to 400 - 450 metres, on tbe slope end to

maximum depth on. the shelf - a zone of rixed Labrador -

and'sub-Arctic.waters;

over 400 -450.metres - deep sub-rctic waters of the

Labrador circulation.

Flemish Cap Bank

//pry

Depth up to 200 metres - surface sub-Arctic ters of the Flemish

Cap branch; .

from 200 to 330 - 34- metres - a zone \ilsre these waters

mix with lower water rliasses;

over 330 - 340 metres - deep vicers of the Labrador circ-

ulation, with an admixture of the waters of the slope.

Grand Bank of rewpundlend

Depth up to 50 - 60 metres bank waters;

from 50 - 60 to 90 - 100 metres - a zone of mi'xin of the

bank and- Labrador waters; .

from 90 -100 to 225.-250 metres - Labrador waters;

from 225-2 50 to 340. 7 360 metres, on te north-eastern

slope, and to 500 metres or the ,east:',;rn slope.- a zone of

• •

62

'mixed Labrador and sub-Arctic waters; •

over 540 -560 metres (and accordingly, over 500 metres

On the eastern slope) - deep sub-arctic waters.

On the south-western (west of :51° - 52° W) slope of the

Grand Bank, at depths of 70-100 to 150-200 metres, there is a

zone in which bank waters mix with Labrador waters, and Atlantic

waters fiowing into the area from the south-east, and over 150-

200 metres, the modified waters of the slope. Deep waters of the

St. Lawrence Trough and Cabot Strait occupy the depths, from

250 metres to the bottom of the trough (470 metres).

Abyssal fauna was encountered by us at a depth of 2150

metres, but in samples taken at a.depth of about 1500 metres

we found practically no abyssal forms (we had no samples from

depths of 1500 - 2150 metres). Inaamuch as the abyssal complex

'is linked to the deep and bottom waters of the North Atlantic,

it can be considered that the upper boundary of this water mass,

coinciding here with the zero hydrodynamic surface, is located,

in this region, somewhere at a depth of about 1800 - 2000

metres, which agrees with the data of G. -Ye.. Shkudova (1962),

derived from the analysis of hydrological data by means of

'mathematical calculation.

Closely interwoven with the question of water masses is

the question of the location of vertical faunal zones. On the

basis of the data on the distribution of biocoenoses, the bound- ••

arles of the vertidal zones in the study area, can be draWn.in

53

the following manner: the upper sub- littoral xtends to a

depth of 50 - 60 metres; the lower sub-littoral on the Labrador-

Newfoundland Shelf, to 200 - 250 metres; on Flemish Cap, to 200

metres; on the north-eastern and eastern slopes of the Grand Bank,

to 225 - 250 metres; on the south-western slope of the Grand Bank

and off Nova Scotia, to 150 - 200 metres.Between the lower bound-

ary of tile sub.;Ittoral fauna and the upper boundary of the bath-

yal fauna there is a transitional level, the thickness of which

varies from 100 - 125 to 250 - 275 metres. The upper boundary of

totally bathyal fauna is located, off Labrador and North Newfound-

land, at a depth of 400 - 450 metres, on Flemish Cap,at 300'- 340 /485

metres; on the north-eastern slopp of the Grand Bank, at 340 - 380

metres; and on the eastern, and evidently, on the south-western

slope of the Grand Bank, at 500 metres. The boundary between the

bathyal and abyssal zones extends along the depth of about 1800 -

2000 metres. The boundaries of the vertical faunal zones in the

Newfoundland - Labrador region coincide fully with the boundaries .

of the water masses, the upper sub-littoral fauna inhabits bank

and coastal waters, the lower sub-littoral in Labrador waters,

the bathyal, in Atlantic waters (sub-Arctic waters and the waters

' of the slope), the abyssal, in deep and bottom . waters. A.A. Neiman

(1961b), came to the same conclusion. The distribution of waters

of different origins is related to bottom relief, so that the

relief of the ocean bottom indirectly determines the location of

the vertical faunal zones.However, the location of the boundaries

of the water masses, and accordingly of the vertical zones, does

not always accurately coincide with the lines of the major var-

iations in bottom relief.

CONCLUSIONS

The mean biomass of the benthos of the Newfoundland -

Labrador region (154 g/m 2 ) is of the same order of magnitude as

is the biomass of benthos of such high productivity areas as the

Barents Sea, the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk. The shallow

of the Grand Bank of Newfoundland, where the biomass reaches 5

kg/m2 , is one of the richest areas of all the seas. The distrib-

ution of the biomass is not even. The mean benthos biomass, at

depths up to 300 metres, in the "rich" regions (Newfoundland and

Nova Scotia) is more than ten times greater than in the "poor"

regions (Labrador and Flemish Cap). The reason for this phenom-

enon is the difference in the annual production of phytoplankton.

The highest benthos biomass is observed on the heights of the

banks, which coincides with the optimum conditions for the dev-

elopment of phytoplankton in local bank waters. The lower annual

production of phytoplankton in more Arctic regions (Labrador) and

the more oceanic areas (Flemish Cap) results, in these regions,

in a lower quantity of benthos biemass.

Identified in our study area were twenty biocoenoses,

complexes and groupingsof benthos. A regular change of biocoen-

oses is observed on the vertical. Thus, on moving from the top

Grand Bank eastward, to the foot of the continental slope, six

biocoenoses and complexes successively displace one another.

In the system of biocoenoses there is also a distinct reflec-

tion of latitudinal differences: in the shallows off Labrador

the bioconosis astartae-macomae predominates, and on the Grand

Bank, the biocoenoses of the echinarachnae group. Differences

in the nature of the bottom soil determine the existence of

variou s. groupings within one and the same biocoenosis.

In the bottom biocoenoses of the Northwestern Atlantic

sessile, firm bottom sestonophages, mobile, loose bottom sest-

onophages and ingesters predominate. The distribution pattern

of the zones of predominance of the representatives of various

feeding groupings reflects the peculiarities of the sedimental

' accumulation, and is closely related to bottom relief. It corr-

elates well with similar patterns produced for the northern

part of the Pacific Ocean by A.I. Savilov, A. A. Neiman and

M.N. Sokolova, which apparently indicates a regulatory mech-

anism of major significance.

The Northwestern Atlantic is located on the boundary

of the boreal and Arctic zones. The north-western part of the

Grand Bank is the region where the Arctic zone extends furthest

to the south, its southernmost . point being lopated 3efurther

south than the northernmost point of the boreal zone, Ice Fiord

in Spitsbergen. •Such a southern location of the boundary of the

boreal and Arctic zones in the Northwestern Atlantic iS the

result of the cooling influence of the Labrador Current.

66

Hydrological features exert a tremendous effect on

the benthos. Each water mass and each type of wator has its

own conforming biocoenosis or complex of bottom fauna. The

distribution of benthos clearly identifies four main water

masses in the Newfoundland - Labrador reion: waters which

warm the shallows in summer, Arctic waters, warm deep waters

of Atlantic origin and abyssal waters. Identifiable also are

various types of water, variations of main water masses and

regions of mixing of the various types of water. Altogether,

nine types of water are distinguishable.

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, , •11111111, • . - . . . •;:•:•, V i 4 e 'C h r. PrelirninarS, investigations ion ' shallow; water animal communities in .

' tmu

hal.liparitaivik — and Thule — districts (Ndrtharest Greenland). Medd. om . Gronland, IX;

. . . , . . . .

V'i b e C h r. -The. marine mammals and the marine fauna In • the •Thide .,distrkt . • (Narthwett Greenland) with . observations on ice; conditions in 1939-41. Ibid., 159,

. . , . . W.hi t e a v es J. F:' Catalogue of the marine' invertebrata of eastern Canada. Geol. -

Survey'Canada, Ottawa, 1901. • . . . , . ' . W i g1 e y R. L..Bentic fauna of Georges Bank. - 26-th. North ''American Wildlife and

• Natùral Resources Cont. Wishington, D. C, , •1961..• - . , . . • .. . . , . - .

. . , ,