Food falls in the deep sea: occurrence, quality, and significance

Stockton, William L.; Delaca, Ted E.

doi:10.1016/0198-0149(82)90106-6

Cited by 173 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…It is therefore expected that the impact is very important but at a small spatial scale. As reported by Stockton & DeLaca (1982), there is a first impact resulting from the arrival of carrion and a second one resulting from the faecal discharge from scavengers, with a border surrounding the area benefiting from the food fall. Ramsay et al (1997) suggest that the importance of the impact of carrion is higher when local natural food supply is low, but data on standing biomass and production in systems such as the one studied here (between the edge of the shelf and mid slope), are not abundant.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…In the North Sea, it has been suggested that beam trawling may generate up to 7% of the annual food demand of the entire scavenger population . In the deep sea, large food falls are rare but represent extremely important local sources of energy, providing c. 11% of the respiratory requirements of the benthic community at a depth of 1310 m in the Santa Catalina Basin (Smith 1985), and significantly affecting abundances and species composition of bottom communities (Stockton & DeLaca 1982). In the system we studied, with ecology similar to the deep ocean in absence of local primary production, the artificial increase in food-fall caused by fisheries discards could significantly modify the ecosystem by stimulating the abundance of highly efficient scavengers, such as those identified, in particular S. hopei.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fate of discards from deep water crustacean trawl fishery off the south coast of Portugal

Castro¹,

Araújo

Monteiro

2005

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research

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Trawling for crustaceans takes place on the south coast of Portugal at depths between 200 and 800 m. Large amounts of discards are released back to sea, reaching the bottom in the general area where trawling occurs. The objective of this work was to study the time taken for decomposition of the discards, to identify the most important scavenging species involved, and to evaluate the impact on the species targeted by the fishery. We conducted a series of 22 trials, using traps baited with samples of the discards. The time of immersion varied between 1 and 40 h. The amount of tissue removed from the discards was evaluated on a qualitative scale of 1-3, and quantitatively. The species caught in the traps were identified. Considerable consumption of the bait had occurred after 5 h of immersion. After 24 h of immersion only fish bones were left; past 40 h, consumption was complete. The conger eel (Conger conger) was the most common fish species present in the traps. Two species, the amphipod Scopelocheirus hopei and the isopod Natatolana (Cirolana) borealis, were identified as most important for the recycling of organic matter in the system. The stomach contents of a sample of species caught in trawls were analysed for the presence of small scavengers. Preliminary results show that S. hopei and N. (C.) borealis are part of the diet of some of the target species of this fishery, such as the Norway lobster, Nephrops norvegicus and the rose shrimp Parapenaeus longirostris.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fate of discards from deep water crustacean trawl fishery off the south coast of Portugal

Castro¹,

Araújo

Monteiro

2005

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research

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“…Lampitt et al (1986) showed a logarithmic decline in megabenthos biomass from 800 to 4100 m in the PSB, which is a proxy for predator food availability. The distribution of carrion is not so well described (Stockton & Delacca 1982;Jones et al 1998;Smith & Baco 2003), but is likely to decline with distance from shore and hence, usually with depth. Consequently, the relative selective pressures for swimming speed, nutrient storage and metabolic economy will differ greatly between scavengers and non-scavengers, even when these species are closely related (note that the four species of Coryphaenoides show positive, negative and no relationship with depth; figure 3).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends in body size across an environmental gradient: A differential response in scavenging and non-scavenging demersal deep-sea fish

et al. 2005

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Body size trends across environmental gradients are widely reported but poorly understood. Here, we investigate contrasting relationships between size (body mass) and depth in the scavenging and predatory demersal ichthyofauna (800-4800 m) of the North-east Atlantic. The mean size of scavenging fish, identified as those regularly attracted to baited cameras, increased significantly with depth, while in nonscavengers there was a significant decline in size. The increase in scavenger size is a consequence of both intra and inter-specific effects. The observation of opposing relationships, in different functional groups, across the same environmental gradient indicates ecological rather than physiological causes. Simple energetic models indicate that the dissimilarity can be explained by different patterns of food distribution. While food availability declines with depth for both groups, the food is likely to be in large, randomly distributed packages for scavengers and as smaller but more evenly distributed items for predators. Larger size in scavengers permits higher swimming speeds, greater endurance as a consequence of larger energy reserves and lower mass specific metabolic rate, factors that are critical to survival on sporadic food items.

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“…These larger parcels are generally not sampled by sediment traps (McCave 1975). The contribution of these larger parcels to the overall transport of organic matter through the water column is largely unknown (Stockton and DeLaca 1982;C. Smith 1983).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food energy supply and demand: A discrepancy between particulate organic carbon flux and sediment community oxygen consumption in the deep ocean1

Smith¹

1987

Limnology & Oceanography

184

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Sediment community oxygen consumption (SCOC) and particulate organic carbon (POC) flux to the benthic boundary layer were concurrently measured at five deep-sea stations on a transect across the eastern and central North Pacific at various times of year. A free vehicle grab respirometer and Alvin-manipulated grab respirometer were used to measure SCOC. Paired particle interceptor traps (PITS) were used to collect sedimenting small POC at 100 and 600 m above the bottom. SCOC decreased across the transect from the eutrophic coastal areas off southern California to the oligotrophic central Pacific gyre. These rates were generally highest in June and lowest between fall and early spring across the transect with a recurrent pattern in the magnitude of rates measured during the same months but different years. Flux of POC into the benthic boundary layer decreased across the transect from the eutrophic eastern to the oligotrophic central Pacific. No consistent temporal trends were evident in POC flux across the transect, possibly because of small sample sizes, high intra-station variability, and short-term deployments (57 d). Comparison of concurrently measured supply of POC with organic carbon demand of the sediment community as estimated from SCOC reveals a supply deficit across the transect for all seasons measured. For one nearly synoptic sampling period across the transect in June 1982, the supply-to-demand ratio is lowest at the two nearshore stations where current speeds are highest. A predictive equation for SCOC with a least-squares regression analysis and log-transformed data revealed that POC flux as the independent variable accounted for only 59% of the variability in SCOC. Direct coupling between SCOC and POC flux is not confirmed by these results, which may be attributed to the limitations of the measurements or other organic carbon sources.Sediment community oxygen consumption (SCOC) has been measured at various times of year at five deep sea stations on a transect across the eastern and central North Pacific (CNP-ENP transect) over the past 8 yr. Initial results indicated spatial variability in SCOC which increased along a gradient of increasing surface water primary productivity from the oligotrophic central gyre to the more eutrophic coastal upwelling areas off southern California . Temporal variability was also identified in SCOC at two of the transect stations and appeared related to the seasonal productivity of the overlying water (Smith and Baldwin 1984a). This result is not surprising given recent reports of seasonal fluctuations in the fluxes of small organic particles to abyssal depths (Deuser and Ross 1980; l This research was supported by NSF grants OCE 81-17661, OCE 84-09075, and OCE 84-17913 and a contract from Sandia Laboratories. Deuser et al. 198 1;Honjo 1982;Billett et al. 1983;Cole et al. 1985)-a source of food supply for deep sea benthos. The next logical step is to explore the possible coupling between this food supply from the overlying water column and the food demand of...

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Food falls in the deep sea: occurrence, quality, and significance

Cited by 173 publications

References 33 publications

Fate of discards from deep water crustacean trawl fishery off the south coast of Portugal

Fate of discards from deep water crustacean trawl fishery off the south coast of Portugal

Trends in body size across an environmental gradient: A differential response in scavenging and non-scavenging demersal deep-sea fish

Food energy supply and demand: A discrepancy between particulate organic carbon flux and sediment community oxygen consumption in the deep ocean1

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