Deep-sea polychaetes in the Weddell Sea and Drake Passage: first quantitative results

Based on samples obtained with a multibox corer during the "Polarstern" expedition EASIZ II (ANT XV/3) to the Weddell Sea and King George Island, the polychaete communities from deep water (1,000–2,400 m) are described. The results presented are the first quantitative data for the area. Species richness and abundances of polychaetes from four different downslope transects are presented, and a first preliminary description is provided of the polychaete community structure. Comparisons are made with polychaete communities from northern, temperate deep-sea areas in the Atlantic and Pacific. While the density of polychaetes was on average about a tenth of that in other slope areas, the species richness was very high if the low polychaete abundances and the small area sampled are considered. The community structure differed from that in the northern, temperate slope areas in the absence or poor representation of usually abundant and species-rich families such as spionids, capitellids and dorvilleids and the predominance of ampharetids, terebellids and maldanids.