Gerdes Klaas, Kihara Terue Cristina, Martínez Arbizu Pedro, Kuhn Thomas, Schwarz-Schampera Ulrich, Mah Christopher L, Norenburg Jon L, Linley Thomas D, Shalaeva Kate, Macpherson Enrique, Gordon Dennis, Stöhr Sabine, Messing Charles G, Bober Simon, Guggolz Theresa, Christodoulou Magdalini, Gebruk Andrey, Kremenetskaia Antonina, Kroh Andreas, Sanamyan Karen, Bolstad Kathrin, Hoffman Leon, Gooday Andrew J, Molodtsova Tina
INES - Integrated Environmental Solutions, Wilhelmshaven, Germany INES - Integrated Environmental Solutions Wilhelmshaven Germany.
Senckenberg am Meer, German Centre for Marine Biodiversity Research, Wilhelmshaven, Germany Senckenberg am Meer, German Centre for Marine Biodiversity Research Wilhelmshaven Germany.
Biodivers Data J. 2021 Sep 28;9:e69955. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.9.e69955. eCollection 2021.
The growing interest in mineral resources of the deep sea, such as seafloor massive sulphide deposits, has led to an increasing number of exploration licences issued by the International Seabed Authority. In the Indian Ocean, four licence areas exist, resulting in an increasing number of new hydrothermal vent fields and the discovery of new species. Most studies focus on active venting areas including their ecology, but the non-vent megafauna of the Central Indian Ridge and South East Indian Ridge remains poorly known.In the framework of the Indian Ocean Exploration project in the German license area for seafloor massive sulphides, baseline imagery and sampling surveys were conducted yearly during research expeditions from 2013 to 2018, using video sledges and Remotely Operated Vehicles.
This is the first report of an imagery collection of megafauna from the southern Central Indian- and South East Indian Ridge, reporting the taxonomic richness and their distribution. A total of 218 taxa were recorded and identified, based on imagery, with additional morphological and molecular confirmed identifications of 20 taxa from 89 sampled specimens. The compiled fauna catalogue is a synthesis of megafauna occurrences aiming at a consistent morphological identification of taxa and showing their regional distribution. The imagery data were collected during multiple research cruises in different exploration clusters of the German licence area, located 500 km north of the Rodriguez Triple Junction along the Central Indian Ridge and 500 km southeast of it along the Southeast Indian Ridge.
对深海矿产资源（如海底块状硫化物矿床）兴趣的不断增加，导致国际海底管理局颁发的勘探许可证数量日益增多。在印度洋，存在四个许可区域，这使得新的热液喷口区域数量不断增加，并发现了新物种。大多数研究聚焦于活跃的喷口区域，包括其生态情况，但对中印度洋海岭和东南印度洋海岭的非喷口大型动物群仍知之甚少。在德国海底块状硫化物许可区域开展的印度洋勘探项目框架内，于2013年至2018年的研究考察期间，每年使用视频雪橇和遥控潜水器进行基线图像采集和抽样调查。
这是首份关于中印度洋南部和东南印度洋海岭大型动物群图像采集的报告，报告了分类丰富度及其分布情况。基于图像记录并识别出了总共218个分类单元，另外对89个采样标本中的20个分类单元进行了形态学和分子学的确认鉴定。汇编的动物目录是大型动物群出现情况的综合，旨在对分类单元进行一致的形态学鉴定并展示其区域分布。图像数据是在德国许可区域不同勘探集群的多次研究航行中收集的，该区域位于罗德里格斯三联点以北500公里处的中印度洋海岭以及其东南500公里处的东南印度洋海岭沿线。
