Functional effects of the hadal sea cucumber <Emphasis Type="Italic">Elpidia atakama</Emphasis> (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea,Elasipodida) reflect small-scale patterns of resource availability |
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Authors: | A J Jamieson A Gebruk T Fujii M Solan |
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Institution: | (1) Oceanlab, Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Main Street, Newburgh, Aberdeenshire, AB41 6AA, UK;(2) P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nakhimovsky Pr. 36, Moscow, 117997, Russia |
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Abstract: | Holothuroidea represent the dominant benthic megafauna in hadal trenches (~6,000–11,000 m), but little is known about their
behaviour and functional role at such depths. Using a time-lapse camera at 8,074 m in the Peru–Chile Trench (SE Pacific Ocean),
we provide the first in situ observations of locomotory activity for the elasipodid holothurian Elpidia atakama Belyaev in Shirshov Inst Oceanol 92:326–367, (1971). Time-lapse sequences reveal ‘run and mill’ behaviour whereby bouts of feeding activity are interspersed by periods of locomotion.
Over the total observation period (20 h 25 min), we observed a mean (±SD) locomotion speed of 7.0 ± 5.7 BL h−1, but this increased to 10.9 ± 7.2 BL h−1 during active relocation and reduced to 4.8 ± 2.9 BL h−1 during feeding. These observations show E. atakama translocates and processes sediment at rates comparable to shallower species despite extreme hydrostatic pressure and remoteness
from surface-derived food. |
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