Structure and distribution of fish assemblages at Burdwood Bank, the first Sub-Antarctic Marine Protected Area “Namuncurá” in Argentina (Southwestern Atlantic Ocean)

DELPIANI, S. M.; BRUNO, D. O.; VAZQUEZ, D. M.; LLOMPART, F.; DELPIANI, G. E.; FERNÁNDEZ, D. A.; ROSSO, J. J.; MABRAGAÑA, E.; DÍAZ DE ASTARLOA, J. M.

POLAR BIOLOGY

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2020

0722-4060

The first non-coastal Sub-Antarctic Marine Protected Area (Namuncurá) in Argentina was created in 2013, at BurdwoodBank (MPAN-BB), an undersea plateau located about 200 km south from Malvinas/Falkland Islands, SW Atlantic Ocean.The main contribution of this work was to explore fish species composition and the structure of fish assemblages in threedifferent zones of the MPAN-BB with different conservation strategies and different surrounding areas. Twenty-two fishingtrawls were performed using a demersal bottom trawl pilot net at depths between 71 and 608 m. A total of 667 fish belongingto 30 species were collected in the surveyed area. The richest family in terms of species number was Nototheniidae (sevenspecies), followed by Macrouridae, Myxinidae and Zoarcidae (four species each), then Moridae and Arhynchobatidae (threespecies each), and finally Muraenolepididae and Psychrolutidae (two species each). The remaining families were representedby a single species. Three significantly different fish assemblages were detected. These distinct assemblages were largelycircumscribed at the plateau, the shelf-break slope, and the area west of the BB. The results showed that fish diversity inthe MPAN-BB is relatively high constituting ~ 10% of the fish composition reported for the Atlantic sector of the MagellanicProvince. The present data suggest that fishes are an important component of the benthic community planned to beprotected by the implementation of the MPAN-BB. These findings have important implications for habitat preservation andthreatened species conservation.