Deepwater decapod, stomatopod and lophogastrid Crustacea from Eastern Australia and the Great Australian Bight collected in 2015–2017: preliminary identifications of 191 species
Museum Victoria Science Reports: No. 21 pp 1-97 (2019)
Abstract
A collection of deepwater decapods systematically sampled from Australia’s continental slope and abyssal plain (200–5000 m) is reported from the combined surveys of the Great Australian Bight (GAB) and south-east and central-east coast of Australia (ECA). This report documents 191 species (115 from the GAB and 108 from the ECA (with 33 shared species)) in 44 families: Dendrobranchiata (32 species), Caridea (57 species), Polychelida (10 species), Achelata (3 species), Astacidea (3 species), Axiidea (2 species), Anomura (52 species), Brachyura (32 species). Nineteen per cent (37) of all species are suspected to be undescribed, 11% (21) are recorded for the first time from Australia and a further 37% (70) are new to either the GAB or the south-east or central coast of Australia. Forty percent of species were known only from a single specimen. The GAB surveys comprise a simple comparison of depth, all sampled at similar latitudes, although targeting different topographical features and substrates. The east coast survey was designed to investigate latitudinal biodiversity patterns along the eastern Australian continental margin, comparing bathyal and abyssal communities at different latitudes from Tasmania (41°S) to Fraser Island, Queensland (24°S). A comparison of GAB and ECA bathyal (1000–3500 m) and abyssal (3500+ m) decapod communities showed a drop in diversity with depth of 75% and 77% respectively, although there was considerable overlap in bathyal and abyssal species with 19% of GAB and 15% of ECA bathyal species also recorded in the abyssal zone. There was a marked increase in species diversity with decreasing latitude along the ECA at the upper bathyal depths of 1000–1500 m (largely due to increasing numbers of crab species at the lower latitudes). Below 1500 m, however, there was no discernable trend of increasing diversity with decreasing latitudes –abyssal species numbers remained relatively stable between southern and northern stations.
Keywords
Decapoda, Stomatopoda, Lophogastrida, abyssal, bathyal, latitudinal, bathymetric, species richness
Citation
Caroline A. Farrelly and Shane T. Ahyong. 2019. Deepwater decapod, stomatopod and lophogastrid Crustacea from Eastern Australia and the Great Australian Bight collected in 2015–2017: preliminary identifications of 191 species. Museum Victoria Science Reports 21: 1–97. https://doi.org/10.24199/j.mvsr.2019.21
Publication date: 1 JULY 2019