Photographs of Invertebrate Megafauna from Abyssal Depths of the North-Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean

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1986-06

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Research Projects

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Abstract

A series of RV PROSPECTOR cruises to survey ferromanganese nodule deposits at depths of 4000-5200 meters in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone of the north-eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean resulted in the acquisition of over 70,000 seafloor images. Real-time television, coupled with 35-mm remotecontrolled still photography, revealed a conspicuous epibenthic invertebrate megafauna of more than 70 species. Approximately 38 species are echinoderms. Porifera and Cnidaria are each represented by approximately 12 species. Several molluscs and arthropods, a bryozoan, a hemichordate, and an ascidian urochordate constitute the remainder.

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Author Institution: Marine Science Department, Deepsea Ventures Inc.; Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

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The Ohio Journal of Science. v86, n3 (June, 1986), 61-68