Dataset Information

Myctobase, a circumpolar database of mesopelagic fishes for new insights into deep pelagic prey fields.

ABSTRACT: The global importance of mesopelagic fish is increasingly recognised, but they remain poorly studied. This is particularly true in the Southern Ocean, where mesopelagic fishes are both key predators and prey, but where the remote environment makes sampling challenging. Despite this, multiple national Antarctic research programs have undertaken regional sampling of mesopelagic fish over several decades. However, data are dispersed, and sampling methodologies often differ precluding comparisons and limiting synthetic analyses. We identified potential data holders by compiling a metadata catalogue of existing survey data for Southern Ocean mesopelagic fishes. Data holders contributed 17,491 occurrence and 11,190 abundance records from 4780 net hauls from 72 different research cruises. Data span across 37 years from 1991 to 2019 and include trait-based information (length, weight, maturity). The final dataset underwent quality control processes and detailed metadata was provided for each sampling event. This dataset can be accessed through Zenodo. Myctobase will enhance research capacity by providing the broadscale baseline data necessary for observing and modelling mesopelagic fishes.

SUBMITTER: Woods B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9279341 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Myctobase, a circumpolar database of mesopelagic fishes for new insights into deep pelagic prey fields.

Woods Briannyn B Trebilco Rowan R Walters Andrea A Hindell Mark M Duhamel Guy G Flores Hauke H Moteki Masato M Pruvost Patrice P Reiss Christian C Saunders Ryan A RA Sutton Caroline C Gan Yi-Ming YM Van de Putte Anton A

Scientific data 20220713 1

The global importance of mesopelagic fish is increasingly recognised, but they remain poorly studied. This is particularly true in the Southern Ocean, where mesopelagic fishes are both key predators and prey, but where the remote environment makes sampling challenging. Despite this, multiple national Antarctic research programs have undertaken regional sampling of mesopelagic fish over several decades. However, data are dispersed, and sampling methodologies often differ precluding comparisons an ...[more]

PMID: 35831309

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Project description:DNA barcode sequences were developed from 557 mesopelagic and upper bathypelagic teleost specimens collected in waters off Atlantic Canada. Confident morphological identifications were available for 366 specimens, of 118 species and 93 genera, which yielded 328 haplotypes. Five of the species were novel to the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD). Most of the 118 species conformed to expectations of monophyly and the presence of a "barcode gap", though some known weaknesses in existing taxonomy were confirmed and a deficiency in published keys was revealed. Of the specimens for which no firm morphological identification was available, 156 were successfully identified to species, and a further 11 to genus, using their barcode sequences and a combination of distance- and character-based methods. The remaining 24 specimens were from species for which no reference barcode is yet available or else ones confused by apparent misidentification of publicly available sequences in BOLD. Addition of the new sequences to those previously in BOLD contributed support to recent taxonomic revisions of Chiasmodon and Poromitra, while it also revealed 18 cases of potential cryptic speciation. Most of the latter appear to result from genetic divergence among populations in different ocean basins, while the general lack of strong horizontal environmental gradients within the deep sea has allowed morphology to be conserved. Other examples of divergence appear to distinguish individuals living under the sub-tropical gyre of the North Atlantic from those under that ocean's sub-polar gyre. In contrast, the available sequences for two myctophid species, Benthosema glaciale and Notoscopelus elongatus, showed genetic structuring on finer geographic scales. The observed structure was not consistent with recent suggestions that "resident" populations of myctophids can maintain allopatry despite the mixing of ocean waters. Rather, it indicates that the very rapid speciation characteristic of the Myctophidae is both on-going and detectable using barcodes.

Dataset Information

Myctobase, a circumpolar database of mesopelagic fishes for new insights into deep pelagic prey fields.

Publications

Myctobase, a circumpolar database of mesopelagic fishes for new insights into deep pelagic prey fields.

Similar Datasets

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