Epibionts in artificial collectors / Epibiontes en colectores artificiales

Abstract

Artificial collectors are tools that explain the settlement dynamics of marine invertebrates. What is known about these in the Caribbean is very limited. In order to identify and quantify the diversity of epibionts in relation to depth, between December, 2015 and August, 2016, cylindrical collectors were suspended on a long line at varying depths. At each experimental depth, bimonthly temperature, chlorophyll a, and total seston records were obtained. 7,078 individuals belonging to five phyla were counted: Chordata, Echinodermata, Arthropoda, and Mollusca. The mollusks, mainly bivalves, were the most abundant, represented by: Pinctada imbricata, Pteria colymbus, and Crassotrea rhizophorae. The recruitment of organisms showed significant changes over time, with different fixation patterns. Abundance, wealth, and diversity, in each of the experimental depths were modulated by the temperature and phytoplankton biomass and the seston. The collectors, regardless of depth and time, acted as artificial habitats, reflecting the variety of benthic organisms, mainly mollusks, that naturally share the different environments that surround the southern coast of the Gulf of Cariaco, which could be a dynamic observed in the southeast Caribbean. The Gulf of Cariaco is an important ecosystem service due to the larval supply it provides to the environment, related to the fertility of its waters.