Decapod crustaceans Eucalliacidae in chemoautotrophic bathyal bottoms of the Gulf of Cadiz (Atlantic Ocean), environmental characteristics and associated communities

Abstract

During the INDEMARES/CHICA 0610, 0211 and 0412 expeditions, carried out in the northern Spanish sector of the Gulf of Cádiz (Spain), samples were collected with a box-corer in 11 mud volcanoes and their adjacent bottoms. Chemoautotrophic communities were found in nine mud volcanoes. Among Decapoda, a rare eucalliacid, belonging to the genus Calliax and related to the Mediterranean infralittoral speciesC. lobata(de Gaillande and Lagardère 1966), was present in three of them. Data on its morphology, biogeographic distribution, vertical distribution within the burrows, sediment composition, pH and redox potential values (each in 5 cm intervals) are given; information on the chemoautotrophic communities associated with this species are also provided.