MEGAFAUNA at H2O

Observed in video surveys (ROV Jason in 1998 and 1999 and ROV JasonII in 2003 and 2004) and/or camera sled/otter trawl transects (in 2003)

Except for those species verified by collection (indicated by *), these classifications are best guesses and subject to change. Classification was checked first with Tree of Life and then with European Register of Marine Species in June 2006.
Click on the phylum for a webpage devoted to that group of organisms. Click on the filename prefix for additional photos of that specific type of organism.
*** NOTE FOR BENTHIC VS. PELAGIC: Organisms were classified as benthic if they were observed at least some times on the seafloor. ***

*** Click for a list of all video clips. ***

Phylum	Class, Order	Family	Genus, species (* verified by collection)	Common Name	Filename Prefix	Type Photo	Benthic or Pelagic?
Protoctista?, Granuloreticulosa?	Foraminifera?		Tentatively resembles Bathysiphon, but could be a tube-dwelling worm	Agglutinated foram?	pro_for_1		Benthic
Protoctista, Xenophyophora	Psamminida	Psamminidae	Reticulammina	Xenophyophore	pro_xen_1		Benthic
Protoctista, Xenophyophora	Psamminida	Psamminidae	Plate-like psamminid xenophyophore	Xenophyophore	pro_xen_2		Benthic
Protoctista?, Xenophyophora?			Tentatively resembles Psammetta, but spoke trace could be created by other organism	Xenophyophore spoke trace?	spoke_trace_2		Benthic
Porifera	Hexactinellida		Perhaps 2 species: Saccocalyx sp., and an indeterminate genus of the subfamily Bolosominae	Stalked glass sponge	por_hex_1		Benthic
	Hexactinellida	Pheronematidae?	Semperella sp.?	Glass sponge	por_hex_2		Benthic
	Hexactinellida	Rossellidae?	Crateromorpha sp.?	Glass sponge	por_hex_3		Benthic
	Hexactinellida		Not determined	Stalked glass sponge	por_hex_4	No photo	Benthic
	Hexactinellida	Rossellidae	Caulophacus sp.	Stalked glass sponge	por_hex_5		Benthic
	Hexactinellida		Not determined, likely a mixture of forms	Glass sponge	por_hex_6		Benthic
	Hexactinellida	Rossellidae?	Crateromorpha sp.?	Glass sponge	por_hex_7		Benthic
	Hexactinellida	Euplectellidae?	Atlantisella sp.?	Glass sponge	por_hex_8		Benthic
	Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida	Cladorhizidae	Cladorhiza sp.	Carniverous sponge	por_dem_1		Benthic
Cnidaria	Hydrozoa, Anthomedusae, Capitata	Corymorphidae	Branchiocerianthus (imperator?)	Solitary hydroid	cni_hyd_1		Benthic
	Hydrozoa		Not determined	Colonial hydroid	cni_hyd_2		Benthic
	Hydrozoa, Siphonophorae		Not determined	Siphonophore	cni_sip_1		Pelagic
	Hydrozoa, Trachymedusae	Rhopalonematidae	Voragonema (= Benthocodon) (pedunculata?)	Jellyfish	cni_med_1		Pelagic
	Hydrozoa, Trachymedusae	Rhopalonematidae	Crossota (rufobrunnea?)	Jellyfish	cni_med_2		Pelagic
	Hydrozoa, Trachymedusae	Rhopalonematidae	Crossota millsae	Jellyfish	cni_med_3		Pelagic
	Hydrozoa, Narcomedusae	Aeginidae	Aegina (citrea?)	Jellyfish	cni_med_4		Pelagic
	Hydrozoa, Narcomedusae	Aeginidae	Aegina? Aeginura?	Jellyfish	cni_med_5		Pelagic
	Hydrozoa or Scyphozoa		Similar to Poralia	Jellyfish	cni_med_6		Pelagic
	Hydrozoa or Scyphozoa		Not determined	Jellyfish	cni_med_7		Pelagic
	Anthozoa, Octocorallia	Pennatulidae	Not determined	Sea pen	cni_pen_1		Benthic
	Anthozoa?, Octocorallia?	Umbellulidae?	Similar to Umbellula	Stalked octocoral?	cni_pen_2		Benthic
	Anthozoa, Hexacorallia, Actiniaria *	Actinoscyphiidae or Actinernidae or Hormathiidae	Actinoscyphia or Actinernus or Actinauge	Sea anemone	cni_act_1		Benthic
	Anthozoa, Hexacorallia, Actiniaria	Actiniidae?	Bolocera?	Sea anemone	cni_act_2		Benthic
	Anthozoa, Hexacorallia, Actiniaria?		Not determined	Sea anemone	cni_act_3		Benthic
Ctenophora	Lobata		Not determined	Lobate ctenophore	cte_1		Pelagic
	Beroida		Not determined	Beroid ctenophore	cte_2		Pelagic
	Cydippida		Not determined	Cydippid ctenophore	cte_3		Pelagic
Platyhelminthes?	Turbellaria?		Not determined	Flatworm?	pla_tur_1		Pelagic
Annelida	Polychaeta, Phyllodocida?	Aphroditidae?	Laetmonice?	Polychaete worm	ann_pol_1		Pelagic
Annelida	Polychaeta?, Sabellida?	Serpulidae?	Not determined	Polychaete worm?	ann_pol_2	No photo	Benthic
Echiura		Bonelliidae?	Not determined	Echiuran worm	spoke_trace_1		Benthic
Chaetognatha?			Not determined	Arrow worm?	arrow_1		Pelagic
Mollusca	Gastropoda, Prosobranchia	Turridae	Majox new species (McLean, in press) *	Snail	mol_gas_1		Benthic
Mollusca	Cephalopoda, Octopoda, Cirrata	Opisthoteuthidae?	Similar to Grimpoteuthis	Dumbo octopus	mol_cep_1		Pelagic
Arthropoda	Crustacea, Copepoda		Not determined, probably several species	Copepod	art_cop_1		Pelagic
	Crustacea, Malacostraca, Decapoda	Galatheidae	Munidopsis?	Galatheid crab (squat lobster) *	art_cra_1		Benthic
	Crustacea, Malacostraca, Decapoda	Penaeoidea?	Similar to Aristaeomorpha	Shrimp	art_shr_1		Pelagic
	Crustacea, Malacostraca, Decapoda	Sergestoidea?	Not determined	Shrimp	art_shr_2		Pelagic
	Crustacea, Peracarida?, Isopoda?		Not determined	Similar to munnopsid isopod in water column, yet looks like spider crab on benthos	art_iso 1		Benthic
	Crustacea, Peracarida?, Isopoda?		Not determined	Similar to isopod	art_iso_2		Benthic
	Crustacea, Peracarida?, Amphipoda?		Not determined	Amphipod?	art_amp 1		Benthic
Echinodermata	Asteroidea, Brisingida	Freyellidae	Freyastera benthophila *	Sea star	ech_ast_1		Benthic
	Crinoidea	Bathycrinidae?	Similar to Bathycrinus	Stalked crinoid	ech_cri_1		Benthic
	Holothuroidea, Elasipodida?	Psychropotidae?	Similar to Benthodytes	Sea cucumber	ech_hol_Ben_1		Benthic
	Holothuroidea, Elasipodida	Pelagothuridae	Enypniastes eximia *	Sea cucumber	ech_hol_Eny_1		Benthic
	Holothuroidea, Aspidochirotida	Synallactidae	Paelopatides	Sea cucumber	ech_hol_Pae_1		Benthic
	Holothuroidea, Elasipodida	Elpidiidae	Peniagone diaphana *	Sea cucumber	ech_hol_Pen_1		Benthic
	Holothuroidea, Elasipodida	Elpidiidae	Peniagone or Amperima	Sea cucumber	ech_hol_Pen_2		Benthic
	Holothuroidea, Elasipodida	Elpidiidae	Peniagone leander	Sea cucumber	ech_hol_Pen_3		Benthic
	Holothuroidea, Elasipodida?	Elpidiidae?	Not determined	Sea cucumber	ech_hol_Pen_4		Benthic
	Holothuroidea, Elasipodida	Laetmogonidae	Psychronaetes (hanseni?)	Sea cucumber	ech_hol_Psn_1		Benthic
	Holothuroidea, Elasipodida	Psychropotidae	Psychropotes semperiana *	Sea cucumber	ech_hol_Psp_1		Benthic
	Holothuroidea, Elasipodida	Psychropotidae	Psychropotes (verrucosa?)	Sea cucumber	ech_hol_Psp_2		Benthic
	Holothuroidea, Aspidochirotida	Synallactidae	Synallactes profundi *	Sea cucumber	ech_hol_Syn_1		Benthic
	Holothuroidea?, Aspidochirotida?	Synallactidae?	Similar to Mesothuria	Sea cucumber	ech_hol_unid_1		Benthic
Bryozoa			Not determined	Stalked bryozoan	bry_1		Benthic
Chordata (Subphylum Urochordata)	Larvacea		Not determined	Larvacean	uro_larv_1		Pelagic
Chordata (Subphylum Urochordata)	Larvacea		Not determined	Empty larvacean house	larv_house_1		Pelagic
Chordata (Subphylum Urochordata)?	Thaliacea?, Salpida?		Not determined	Colonial salp?	uro_sal_1		Pelagic
Chordata (Subphylum Urochordata)?	Ascidiacea?		Not determined	Tunicate?	uro_tun_1		Benthic
Chordata	Osteichythes (Bony fish )	Stephanoberycidae	Abyssoberyx	Stephanoberycid	fish_ale_1		Pelagic
		Synodontidae	Bathysaurus (mollis?)	Lizard fish	fish_bat_1		Benthic
		Gigantactinidae	Gigantactis (perlatus?)	Angler fish	fish_gig_1		Pelagic
		Macrouridae	Coryphaenoides armatus *	Rattail	fish_mac_1		Pelagic
		Ophidiidae	Bassozetus?	Ophidiid	fish_oph_1		Pelagic
		Ophidiidae	Typhlonus nasus *	Ophidiid	fish_oph_2		Pelagic
		Ipnopidae	Bathypterois	Tripod fish	fish_tri_1		Benthic
		Ophidiidae?	Not determined	Fish, unidentified	fish_unid_1		Pelagic
		Ophidiidae?	Not determined	Fish, unidentified	fish_unid_2		Pelagic

Total number of morphotypes of organisms identified: 72.
Benthic organisms: 45 types; planktonic/pelagic fauna: the other 27 types.

*** We would like to thank the following taxonomic specialists for helping identify the animals: D. Calder, D. Cohen, J. Drazen, D. Fautin, A. Gooday, L. Harris, G. Hendler, R. Kaufmann, T. Iwamoto, L. Lovell, J. Ljubenkov, C. Mah, J. Martin, G. Matsumoto, J. McLean, J. Moore, J. Nielsen, D. Pawson, F. Pages, K. Raskoff, A. Rathburn, H. Reiswig, and R. Rosenblatt. ***

*** No barnacles, enteropneusts, pycnogonids, ophiuroids, or urchins have been observed at H2O. ***

Lebensspuren (traces of animal activity)
Common Name	Filename Prefix	Type Photo
Mound, mound arc or row, mound cluster	mound
Spoke trace	spoke_trace_1
Spoke trace	spoke_trace_2
Track (swath or line)	track
Fecal cast	fecal_cast

Link to WHOI Technical Report (PDF)
Return to H2O homepage
Page updated 26 Dec. 2006 by Stace Beaulieu (stace@whoi.edu)