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Taxonomy and ecology of the deep-pelagic fish family Melamphaidae, with emphasis on interactions with a mid-ocean ridge system

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Date Issued:
2010
Summary:
Much of the world's oceans lie below a depth of 200 meters, but very little is known about the creatures that inhabit these deep-sea environments. The deep-sea fish family Melamphaidae (Stephanoberyciformes) is one such example of an understudied group of fishes. Samples from the MAR-ECO (www.mar-eco.no) project represent one of the largest melamphaid collections, providing an ideal opportunity to gain information on this important, but understudied, family of fishes. The key to the family presented here is the first updated, comprehensive key since those produced by Ebeling and Weed (1963) and Keene (1987). Samples from the 2004 MAR-ECO cruise and the U.S. National Museum of Natural History provided an opportunity to review two possible new species, the Scopelogadus mizolepis subspecies, and a Poromitra crassiceps species complex. Results show that Scopeloberyx americanus and Melamphaes indicoides are new species, while the two subspecies of Scopelogadus mizolepis are most likely o nly one species and the Poromitra crassiceps complex is actually several different species of Poromitra. Data collected from the MAR-ECO cruise provided an opportunity to study the distribution, reproductive characteristics and trophic ecology of the family Melamphaidae along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR). Cluster analysis showed that there are five distinct groups of melamphaid fishes along the MAR. This analysis also supported the initial observation that the melamphaid assemblage changes between the northern and southern edges of an anti-cyclonic anomaly that could be indicative of a warm-core ring. Analysis of the reproductive characteristics of the melamphaid assemblage revealed that many of the female fishes have a high gonadosomatic index (GSI) consistent with values found for other species of deep-sea fishes during their spawning seasons.
Title: Taxonomy and ecology of the deep-pelagic fish family Melamphaidae, with emphasis on interactions with a mid-ocean ridge system.
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Name(s): Bartow, Kyle Allen.
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Department of Biological Sciences
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Issued: 2010
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form: electronic
Extent: xiv, 185 p. : ill. (some col.)
Language(s): English
Summary: Much of the world's oceans lie below a depth of 200 meters, but very little is known about the creatures that inhabit these deep-sea environments. The deep-sea fish family Melamphaidae (Stephanoberyciformes) is one such example of an understudied group of fishes. Samples from the MAR-ECO (www.mar-eco.no) project represent one of the largest melamphaid collections, providing an ideal opportunity to gain information on this important, but understudied, family of fishes. The key to the family presented here is the first updated, comprehensive key since those produced by Ebeling and Weed (1963) and Keene (1987). Samples from the 2004 MAR-ECO cruise and the U.S. National Museum of Natural History provided an opportunity to review two possible new species, the Scopelogadus mizolepis subspecies, and a Poromitra crassiceps species complex. Results show that Scopeloberyx americanus and Melamphaes indicoides are new species, while the two subspecies of Scopelogadus mizolepis are most likely o nly one species and the Poromitra crassiceps complex is actually several different species of Poromitra. Data collected from the MAR-ECO cruise provided an opportunity to study the distribution, reproductive characteristics and trophic ecology of the family Melamphaidae along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR). Cluster analysis showed that there are five distinct groups of melamphaid fishes along the MAR. This analysis also supported the initial observation that the melamphaid assemblage changes between the northern and southern edges of an anti-cyclonic anomaly that could be indicative of a warm-core ring. Analysis of the reproductive characteristics of the melamphaid assemblage revealed that many of the female fishes have a high gonadosomatic index (GSI) consistent with values found for other species of deep-sea fishes during their spawning seasons.
Summary: This may indicate that melamphaids use this ridge as a spawning ground. Diets of the melamphaid fishes were composed primarily of ostracods, a mphipods, copepods and euphausiids. Scopelogadus was the only genus shown to have a high percent of gelatinous prey in their digestive system, while Melamphaes had the highest concentration of chaetognaths. This work presents data on the ecology and taxonomy of the family Melamphaidae and provides a strong base for any future work on this biomass-dominant family of fishes.
Identifier: 697796907 (oclc), 2867331 (digitool), FADT2867331 (IID), fau:3553 (fedora)
Note(s): by Kyle Allen Bartow.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010.
Includes bibliography.
Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subject(s): Coral reef ecology
Marine biology
Marine ecology
Deep-sea biology
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2867331
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU