Deep-sea infauna with calcified exoskeletons imaged in situ using a new 3D acoustic coring system (A-core-2000).

ABSTRACT: The deep ocean is Earth's largest habitable space inhabited by diverse benthic organisms. Infauna play crucial roles in shaping sedimentary structures, relocating organic matter, porewater chemistry, and hence biogeochemical cycles. However, the visualization and quantification of infauna in situ inside deep-sea sediment has been challenging, due to their sparse distribution and that deep-sea cameras do not visualize animals living below the sediment surface. Here, we newly developed a 3D acoustic "coring" system and applied it to visualize and detect burrowing bivalves in deep-sea sediments. The in situ acoustic observation was conducted at a dense colony of vesicomyid clams in a hydrocarbon seep in Sagami Bay, Japan, focusing on a patch of juvenile clams with a completely infaunal life s

SUBMITTER: Mizuno K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9329462 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature