DisMar, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
PLoS One. 2011 Feb 3;6(2):e16357. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016357.
The biodiversity of the megabenthic assemblages of the mesophotic zone of a Tyrrhenian seamount (Vercelli Seamount) is described using Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) video imaging from 100 m depth to the top of the mount around 61 m depth. This pinnacle hosts a rich coralligenous community characterized by three different assemblages: (i) the top shows a dense covering of the kelp Laminaria rodriguezii; (ii) the southern side biocoenosis is mainly dominated by the octocorals Paramuricea clavata and Eunicella cavolinii; while (iii) the northern side of the seamount assemblage is colonized by active filter-feeding organisms such as sponges (sometimes covering 100% of the surface) with numerous colonies of the ascidian Diazona violacea, and the polychaete Sabella pavonina. This study highlights, also for a Mediterranean seamount, the potential role of an isolated rocky peak penetrating the euphotic zone, to work as an aggregating structure, hosting abundant benthic communities dominated by suspension feeders, whose distribution may vary in accordance to the geomorphology of the area and the different local hydrodynamic conditions.
使用从 100 米水深到山顶约 61 米水深的遥控潜水器（ROV）视频成像，描述了地中海海山中层区大型底栖生物群的生物多样性。这座山峰拥有丰富的珊瑚生物群落，由三个不同的生物群组成：（i）顶部覆盖着茂密的海带；（ii）南侧的生物群落主要由八放珊瑚 Paramuricea clavata 和 Eunicella cavolinii 主导；而（iii）海山北部的生物群则由活跃的滤食生物如海绵（有时覆盖表面的 100%）、大量的 Diazona violacea 海鞘和 Sabella pavonina 多毛类动物殖民。这项研究还强调了，对于地中海海山来说，一个孤立的岩石峰穿透透光带的潜在作用，作为一个聚集结构，拥有丰富的以悬浮食者为主的底栖生物群落，其分布可能根据该地区的地貌和不同的局部水动力条件而变化。
