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Species Composition and Relative Abundance of the Mesopelagic Fish Fauna in the Slope Sea off Nova Scotia
Daphne E. Themelis and Ralph G. Halliday

Northeastern Naturalist, Volume 19, Issue 2 (2012): 177–200

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2012 NORTHEASTERN NATURALIST 19(2)177–200 Species Composition and Relative Abundance of the Mesopelagic Fish Fauna in the Slope Sea off Nova Scotia Daphne E. Themelis1,* and Ralph G. Halliday1 Abstract - The mesopelagic fish fauna in the Slope Sea off the Canadian continental shelf from 50° to 64°W is documented based on 10 surveys conducted in 1984–89. Species composition and relative species abundance by water mass (Labrador Slope Water [LSW], Warm Slope Water [WSW], and Gulf Stream), and their variation with season and fishing depth, are described. The most abundant species in collections was Ceratoscopelus maderensis, and this species dominated in WSW samples, but Benthosema glaciale was the predominant species in LSW samples. Gulf Stream samples were few and represented boundary conditions. Those species that were common in catches showed a seasonal variation in catch rate. Species composition varied with depth fished, deeper tows containing species, such as Cyclothone spp., that did not migrate to surface layers at night. The collections were comprised of at least 250 species. Although many of them have been reported from adjacent areas to the southwest, 35% of these species are new records for the sampled area, and 19 species are new records for the Slope Sea. Although a species accumulation curve indicates that more species would have been captured with additional sampling, it is likely that all species that occur regularly in the study area are represented in the species list. Introduction The present paper describes the fish fauna that occurs in the mesopelagic zone off the Scotian Shelf south of Nova Scotia, and how it varies with water mass, depth, and season, based on data from mid-water trawl surveys conducted by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Canada from 1984 to 1989. Sampling extended from about 50°W, south of Grand Bank, to about 64°W, off the western Scotian Shelf (Fig. 1), i.e., the eastern part of the Slope Sea. This project was a component of a deepwater resource inventory program, mesopelagic species being viewed as a potentially harvestable resource ( e.g., Gjosaeter and Kawaguchi 1980). The name Slope Sea was adopted by Csanady and Hamilton (1988) for the ocean area that lies between the continental shelf and the Gulf Stream (GS) and extends from Cape Hatteras in the west to the tail of the Grand Bank. This geographical region is occupied by Warm Slope Water (WSW) in the southwest and by cooler, fresher Labrador Slope Water (LSW) in the northeast. These water masses continuously interact, and the location of the boundary between them varies greatly depending on the volume of cold water transported around the tail of the Grand Bank. LSW has been observed as far to the west as Georges Bank (Petrie and Drinkwater 1993), but did not extend beyond the eastern Scotian Shelf during the period of the present study. The oceanography is further complicated 1Population Ecology Division, Science Branch, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, PO Box 1006, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada B2Y 4A2. *Corresponding author - Daphne. Themelis@dfo-mpo.gc.ca. 178 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 19, No. 2 by the occurrence of warm core rings (WCRs), rotating bands of GS water around a Sargasso Sea water core, that mix extensively with WSW before dissipation or re-absorption by the GS. The species composition, abundance, and distribution of the fish fauna of the mesopelagic zone in the northeastern part of the Slope Sea off Atlantic Canada were not well known prior to the present study. In the most recent checklist of Canadian Atlantic fishes (Scott and Scott 1988), records of such species were based largely on incidental captures in research surveys directed at commercial groundfi sh and squid species, and from the commercial fisheries. Surveys conducted by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA, that targeted the mid-water fish fauna of the Slope Sea, were conducted primarily within its southwestern part, with only a few of the samples collected being from within the present study area (e.g., Backus et al. 1977, Jahn and Backus 1976, Wroblewski and Cheney 1984). Descriptions of the larvae of mesopelagic fish taken by plankton net in the study Figure 1. Locations of sampling by mid-water trawl in the Slope Sea from 1984 to 1989. (Dark circles = exploratory cruises, light circles = standard cruises.) Dashed and dotted lines are indicative of the locations of the boundaries between the Gulf Stream (GS) and Warm Slope Water (WSW) and WSW and Labrador Slope Water (LSW) masses, respectively. 2012 D.E. Themelis and R.G. Halliday 179 area in November 1974 (Evseenko 1982), and of mesopelagic fish catches along a nine-station transect immediately to the west of the study area (Kukuev 2002), provide some ancillary information. McKelvie (1985) described assemblage structure of the mesopelagic fish fauna in winter at the most easterly end of the Slope Sea, based on incidental catches in squid surveys, but discussed only the most important species. Thus, present surveys provide the first comprehensive description of the species composition of the fish fauna of the mesopelagic zone in the northeastern part of the Slope Sea. Methods Ten cruises were conducted by DFO over the continental slope off Nova Scotia (Fig. 1) between October 1984 and August 1989 using the research trawlers Lady Hammond and Alfred Needler (Table 1). The first four cruises were exploratory and geographically extensive. Six subsequent cruises, conducted over a 2-year period, used standardized sampling protocols along fixed transects across the front between LSW and WSW, and were spaced temporally to provide sampling for every second calendar month. The net used for all cruises was an International Young Gadoid Pelagic Trawl (IYGPT), a twin-warp, non-closing, mid-water trawl (Hislop 1970). Monitoring units (SCANMAR) on the head and foot ropes indicated an average mouth opening of 8.5 m high and 11.5 m wide while towed. Tow speed was varied to maintain the net at the desired fishing depth. Only 5% of the specimens captured had a minimum standard length less than 20 mm, suggesting that this was the lower size limit of retention. At night, a three-step oblique tow of ten minutes at depths of 200, 100, and 50 m for a total (horizontal) set time of 30 minutes was standard. (There were some variations in step levels on initial cruises and the occasional adoption of continuous oblique tows when monitoring equipment failed, but all were oblique tows in depths shallower than 300 m.) During day tows, the net was towed horizontally for 30 minutes at depths usually greater than 300 m, to a maximum of 1000 m. An inventory of tows by water mass, diurnal period, and depth range is shown in Table 2. Table 1. Cruise designations, dates, number of trawl samples by depth category, and maximum depths sampled. The first four cruises were exploratory, the latter six were standard. (H = Lady Hammond, N = Alfred Needler.) Cruise Date Tows <300 m Tows ≥300 m Max tow depth (m) H127 Oct 1984 11 2 900 N057 Feb 1986 18 1 1000 N067 Aug 1986 38 0 290 N089 Sept 1987 28 4 1000 N096 Feb 1988 26 10 1000 N110 Oct 1988 34 10 1000 N112 Dec 1988 35 16 1000 N119 Apr 1989 15 7 627 N122 Jun 1989 18 8 950 N126 Aug 1989 21 0 298 180 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 19, No. 2 On net retrieval, fish were separated from other components of the catch, and their wet displacement volume (a proxy for weight) was determined (± 0.05 L). The total fish sample was then fixed in 10% buffered formalin and brought ashore for sorting and identification to species or lowest taxon. Minimum and maximum lengths of species lots were measured in millimeters (standard length or head length for eels), and the fish were subsequently transferred to 50% isopropanol for long-term preservation and archived in the Atlantic Reference Centre in St. Andrews, NB, Canada. Hydrographic data collected at all fishing stations and at 20-km intervals along cruise transects were used to classify each fishing station by water mass (Halliday et al. 1995). The convention set in previous studies on mesopelagic fish distributions of defining the water masses by the temperature at 200 m (LSW: <9 °C, WSW: 9–15 °C, GS: >15 °C) was followed (Worthington 1964). The present analyses were based on catches of those fish species recognized in the literature (by the authorities used to identify them) as being mesopelagic or bathypelagic in habit and also included those benthopelagic species known to occupy the mesopelagic zone as juveniles (e.g., scopelosaurids). Individuals removed from the analyses included all larval eels, all stages of neritic and benthic species, and those specimens too damaged to be identified to species. These exclusions amounted to about 1% of the total specimens caught. The coastward limit of the Slope Sea was taken as 1000 m, and only catches from tows made over bottom depths >1000 m were included, as the fauna along the continental slope can differ substantially in composition and abundance from that over oceanic depths (e.g., Gartner et al. 2008). A sample-based species accumulation curve, which plotted the increasing number of species observed as samples are pooled (Gotelli and Colwell 2001), was constructed to assess the potential number of species remaining to be discovered in the Slope Sea using EstimateS (Colwell 2009). Rank/abundance and k-dominance plots were constructed to examine the structure of the fauna overall and to compare the faunas associated with the LSW, WSW, and GS water masses. For rank/abundance plots, the relative abundances of species were plotted on a log-transformed scale in relation to species rank. These plots provide a graphic display of contrasting patterns in species richness and differences in evenness between assemblages (Magurran 2004). The k-dominance plot shows percentage cumulative abundance in relation to log-transformed species rank. The less diverse the fauna, the more elevated the slope (Magurran 2004). Species richness Table 2. Distribution of trawl samples by water mass, diurnal period, and tow depth. LSW = Labrador Slope Water, WSW = Warm Slope Water, and GS = Gulf Stream. Water mass LSW WSW GS Tow depth (m) Day Night Day Night Day Night 0–299 0 58 4 149 2 10 300–699 10 1 13 2 3 0 700–1000 11 0 25 2 0 0 2012 D.E. Themelis and R.G. Halliday 181 was compared among water masses by computing sample-based expected species accumulation curves with 95% confidence intervals using EstimateS. Species richness is affected by the number of samples in the dataset, so the expected number of species was calculated for the number of samples representing the least sampled water mass. As recommended by Gotelli and Colwell (2001), the expected species curves were rescaled by individuals instead of samples, to account for differences in species density between datasets. Comparisons between LSW, WSW, and GS sample groups were based upon shallow night tows only, which reduced the total number of species by 8% for the WSW, 9% for the GS, and 14% for the LSW. Comparisons between tow depths were limited to WSW samples pooled into three tow-depth groups (0–299, 300–699, 700–1000 m). Twelve tows conducted within an hour of sunrise or sunset were not included in comparisons between water masses. SCANMAR units monitoring the net shape during towing indicated the mouth opened as the net reached towing depth and remained open during towing and haul-back, so deep horizontal tows had a longer fishing time than shallow tows. Thus, for the comparison of catches at different depths, abundance estimates were standardized to a 40-minute tow to minimize differences between horizontal and three-step tows. All estimates are calculated as geometric averages of log-transformed (ln [x + 1]) catches. Differences between sample groups were tested statistically using parametric analysis of variance (ANOVA). Sample groups with significant differences were compared on a pair-wise basis using Tukey’s honestly significant difference (HSD) test at a significance level of 0.05. Similarities in species composition between sample groups were measured by Spearman rank correlations (r) of the rank order of the ten most abundant species occurring in each sample group. Seasonal variation in species numbers per tow for the most abundant species were examined by comparisons among shallow, night WSW samples from the standard cruises (Table 1). Results Species composition Collections of deepwater fishes from 302 tows made in the epipelagic and mesopelagic zones in the northeastern Slope Sea contained approximately 240,000 specimens. These were comprised of at least 250 taxa belonging to more than 55 families (Appendix 1). The most numerically abundant families were Myctophidae (lanternfishes; 87% of the total catch), Gonostomatidae (anglemouths; 3.2%), Paralepididae (barracudinas; 2.4%), and Stomiidae (dragonfishes; 2.1%). The lanternfishes were also the most speciose family with 68 species, followed by the dragonfishes (49 species), barracudinas (13 species), Melamphaidae (bigheads; 12 species), and Sternoptychidae (hatchetfishes; 10 species). The lack of an asymptote in the species accumulation curve (Fig. 2) indicates that the fish fauna was insufficiently sampled to catalogue all the mesopelagic species occurring in the area sampled (Simberloff 1978). This finding is due to the large proportion of rare species; 22% of all species records were based upon 182 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 19, No. 2 single captures, and a few previously unobserved species were added to the total species list with each additional survey. The pattern in relative abundance was that a few species were very abundant, while a large number were rare (Fig. 3A). Only twelve species were collected in numbers exceeding 1% of the total collection (Fig 3A), of which three species (Ceratoscopelus maderensis Lowe [Horned Lanternfish], Benthosema glaciale Reinhardt [Glacier Lanternfish], and Lobianchia dofleini Zugmayer [Doflein’s Lanternfish]), comprised 70% of all individuals captured (Fig 3B; Appendix 1) Species composition and abundance by water mass Mean number of fish per tow and number of species per tow (in shallow, night tows) differed significantly among LSW, WSW, and GS (ANOVA: P = 0.02 and P < 0.001, respectively; Table 3), while differences in mean volume per tow were not significant (P = 0.11). Mean number of fish per tow in the WSW was significantly higher than in the LSW (Tukey: P < 0.05), but the numbers per tow in the GS, compared to the WSW or LSW, were not significantly different. Mean number of species per tow was highest in GS samples followed by WSW (Tukey: P < 0.5). All species records unique to LSW and GS were from single occurrences (only one specimen of each species was captured), while unique species records in WSW samples included 1 to 20 individuals. Thirty-one percent of the total species captured occurred in all three sample groups, 13% occurred in Figure 2. Species accumulation curve for the midwater fishes of the Slope Sea showing the mean cumulative number of fish species expected in relation to the total number of samples collected. 2012 D.E. Themelis and R.G. Halliday 183 the LSW and WSW but not GS samples (33 species; most abundant of these were Cyclothone spp., Scopelogadus beanii Günther [Bean’s Bigscale], Magnisudis atlanticus Krøyer [Duckbill Barracudina], and Bathylagus euryops Goode and Bean [Goiter Blacksmelt]). LSW and GS shared only one species (Aristostomias Figure 3. Relative abundance of mid-water fish species in the Slope Sea. A) Species ordered by the log of their relative abundance; B) Cumulative abundance in relation to log species rank. 184 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 19, No. 2 lunifer Regan and Trewavas), and 18% occurred in WSW and GS samples but not LSW (45 species; most abundant were Diaphus persicillatus Ogilby [Transparent Lanternfish], Lepidophanes gaussi Brauer, Lestidops affinis Ege, and Diaphus effulgens Goode and Bean [Headlight Fish]). Species richness, estimated based on a dataset of ten samples, was highest in the GS, followed by the WSW and LSW (Fig. 4). Confidence intervals about the three lines do not overlap at levels of 1000 or more individuals, and species richness follows the same pattern as shown in Table 3. The expected number of species in a sample of 5750 individuals (the x-axis has been rescaled to account for differences in the numbers of fish per tow among water masses) was highest for the GS (123 species), followed by WSW (78 species) and LSW (50 species). Figure 4. Species diversity of the Labrador Slope Water (LSW), Warm Slope Water (WSW), and Gulf Stream (GS). Species accumulation curve of mean number of fish species and associated 95% confidence intervals expected with increasing sampling, rescaled to number of individuals. Table 3. Geometric means of number of individuals, number of species and catch volume (liters) per 40-minute IYGPT tow in Labrador Slope Water (LSW), Warm Slope Water (WSW), and Gulf Stream (GS) water masses in shallow night tows (number of tows shown in parentheses) and significance of differences from analysis of variance (ANOVA). LSW WSW GS ANOVA P-value Individuals/tow 415.7 (58) 643.4 (149) 475.5 (10) 0.02 Species/tow 14.5 (58) 30.2 (149) 42.1 (10) <0.001 Volume/tow 0.6 (55) 0.8 (142) 0.7 (10) 0.11 2012 D.E. Themelis and R.G. Halliday 185 Figure 5. Species diversity of the Labrador Slope Water (LSW), Warm Slope Water (WSW), and Gulf Stream (GS). A) Relative abundance of species ordered on a log scale in relation to their rank; B) Cumulative abundance in relation to log species rank. 186 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 19, No. 2 The rank/abundance and k-dominance plots (Fig. 5A, B) show a low diversity for the LSW assemblage with only a few species displaying high abundance, a high diversity for the GS assemblage, and that the WSW is intermediate between the LSW and GS. The most abundant species in each water mass and its percent contribution to the catch in that water mass was B. glaciale (74%) in LSW, C. maderensis (39%) in WSW, and Hygophum hygomii Lütken (Bermuda Lanternfish; 10%) in GS. Four species—C. maderensis, L. dolfeini, Notoscopelus resplendens Richardson (Patchwork Lampfish), and H. hygomii—ranked among the top ten in all three regions (Table 4). Benthosema glaciale and Arctozenus risso Bonaparte (White Barracudina) were among the top ten in both the LSW and WS'W, and three species—Hygophum benoiti Cocco (Benoit’s Lanternfish), Ceratoscopelus warmingii Lütken (Warming’s Lanternfish), and Lepidophanes guentheri Goode and Bean—were highly ranked in both the WSW and GS. No species among the top ten in one area was absent from another, and a few species such as L. dolfeini and N. resplendens had similar ranks in all regions. Some species showed striking changes in ranking, e.g., B. glaciale and A. risso, which ranked first and third, respectively, in the LSW and 47 and 77, respectively, in the GS. Conversely, C. warmingii and Diaphus mollis Tåning (Soft Lanternfish) ranked third and fourth, respectively, in the GS, and 18 and 48, respectively, in the LSW. Species composition was correlated between LSW and WSW sample groups (Spearman: P = 0.05; Table 4). Table 4. Ten most abundant species in each of the Labrador Slope Water (LSW), Warm Slope Water (WSW), and Gulf Stream (GS) water masses, their comparative rank in the other water masses, and Spearman rank correlation coefficients between water masses (* r significant at P = 0.05). Species name LSW WSW GS Benthosema glaciale 1 3 (47) Ceratoscopelus maderensis 2 1 10 Arctozenus risso 3 6 (77) Myctophum punctatum 4 (21) (22) Lobianchia dofleini 5 2 2 Notoscopelus resplendens 6 5 6 Hygophum hygomii 7 4 1 Notoscopelus elongatus 8 (57) (108) Stomias boa 9 (20) (64) Chauliodus sloani 10 (13) (29.5) Hygophum benoiti (13) 8 9 Gonostoma elongatum (17) 10 (12) Ceratoscopelus warmingii (18) 7 3 Lepidophanes guentheri (20.5) 9 7 Bolinichthys indicus (28) (23) 5 Lampanyctus photonotus (37.5) (30) 8 Diaphus mollis (48) (24) 4 Spearman r LSW 1.00 WSW 0.65* 1.00 GS -0.38 0.25 1.00 2012 D.E. Themelis and R.G. Halliday 187 Species composition and abundance by depth Mean number of fish per tow, species per tow, and volume per tow of samples collected in WSW differed significantly between depths (Table 5). Numbers per tow was highest for shallow tows (0–299 m), followed by deep tows ((700– 1000 m) (Tukey: P < 0.05). Shallow and deep tows also caught more species per tow than mid-depth tows (300–699 m), and tow volume was highest in the deepest sample group (Tukey: P < 0.05). Rank orders of the ten most abundant species (Table 6) were significantly correlated between mid-depth and deep tows, but not shallow tows (Table 5). Myctophids dominated shallow tows, comprising eight of the ten most abundant species, but not deep tows (only three of top ten). B. glaciale shifted from third to first in rank with increasing tow depth. Cyclothone spp., the second most abundant taxon in deep tows, was captured in only five shallow tows. At least two species of Cyclothone, Cyclothone braueri Table 5. Geometric means of numbers of fish, species and volume (liters) per 40-minute IYGPT tow in Warm Slope Water samples pooled by tow depth (numbers of tows in parentheses) and signifi cance of differences from analysis of variance (ANOVA). Depth (m) 0–299 300–699 700–1000 ANOVA P-value Individual fish/tow 613.4 (153) 191.5 (15) 339.3 (27) <0.001 Species/tow 29.4 (153) 19.9 (15) 27.1 (27) <0.01 Volume/tow 0.8 (145) 0.7 (14) 1.9 (26) <0.001 Table 6. Ten most abundant species in Warm Slope Water tows pooled by tow depth, their comparative rank at other depths, and Spearman rank correlation coefficients between depths (* r significant at P = 0.05). Species name 0–299 m 300–699 m 700–1000 m Ceratoscopelus maderensis 1 1 3 Lobianchia dofleini 2 4 6 Benthosema glaciale 3 2 1 Hygophum hygomii 4 3 (15) Notoscopelus resplendens 5 (19) (11) Arctozenus risso 6 10 10 Hygophum benoiti 7 (17) (23) Ceratoscopelus warmingii 8 (90) (31.5) Lepidophanes guentheri 9 (13) (24) Gonostoma elongatum 10 7 8 Argyropelecus aculeatus (11) 9 (17) Chauliodus sloani (12) 5 4 Stomias boa (20) (11.5) 7 Cyclothone spp. (29) (11.5) 2 Serrivomer beani (36) 6 5 Scopelogadus beanii (51) (29) 9 Sternoptyx diaphana (102.5) 8 (13) Spearman r 0–299 m 1.0 300–699 m 0.326 1.0 700–1000 m 0.07 0.607* 1.0 188 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 19, No. 2 Jespersen and Tåning and Cyclothone microdon Günther [Veiled Anglemouth]), were collected, but most individuals were so badly damaged that all are reported here only to genus. Seasonal variation in species composition Catch rates of the five most abundant species in WSW were variable in the six standard cruises, but there was a pattern to the variability, with a species predominating on one or a few seasonally adjacent cruises and then declining (Fig. 6). Ceratoscopelus maderensis was the most abundant species in cruises in October and December. Benthosema glaciale declined from its April peak abundance through summer, fall, and winter cruises. Lobianchia dofleini peaked in June through August and was almost absent in February–April. Hygophum hygomii was similar in distribution to L. dofleini, whereas H. benoiti was almost opposite, with only a slight rise to the highest catches in December to February. Discussion Almost 240,000 deepwater fish, belonging to at least 250 species, were captured in the 302 tows made during the ten cruises in 1984–1989 that comprise this study. Despite the large number of samples, the species accumulation curve indicated that more species would be captured with additional sampling. However, using the curve as an estimator of the sampling effort required to find additional Figure 6. Seasonal variation in the geometric mean abundance per tow of the five most abundant mesopelagic species in Warm Slope Water based on standard cruises only. 2012 D.E. Themelis and R.G. Halliday 189 records (Simberloff 1978) indicates that only three to four new species occurrences could be expected if yet another survey (comprising 25–30 samples) was conducted. Sutton and Hopkins (1996) concluded that hundreds of tows were sufficient to characterize the fauna of the Gulf of Mexico, but thousands of tows were needed to capture the rare elements. This phenomenon is applicable also to the Slope Sea, i.e., all species that occur regularly in the study area likely are represented in the species list. There was a greater diversity of species in GS tows than in WSW tows and in WSW tows than in LSW tows. However, the species unique to a particular water mass were those represented by only one or a few specimens. The most substantial differences among water masses were in the relative abundances of species, with B. glaciale dominant in LSW, C. maderensis in WSW, and H. hygomii in GS water, and in the higher density (numbers per tow) of animals in WSW than in the other water masses. Volume per tow did not differ significantly among water masses, and thus the average size of an individual fish was lowest in WSW. A necessary qualification to the comparisons among water masses is that samples classed as GS were few (16) and collected from its northern edge and from warm core rings, and hence represent boundary conditions rather than the GS proper. The dominant species in WSW samples varied also with season. This finding can be attributed, at least in part, to variations among species in lifespan and spawning times and to size selection by the gear. Species with one-year life cycles would be represented only by juveniles too small to be caught in the trawl (< ca. 20 mm) during part of the year, e.g., H. hygomii and L. dofleini (Karnella 1987). For species with life cycles greater than one year, e.g., C. maderensis and B. glaciale (Clarke 1974, Halliday 1970, Lancraft et al. 1988, Linkowski et al. 1993), at least part of the population would be available to the IYGPT all year, but these species also showed substantial variation. Benthosema glaciale was most dominant in catches during its spawning season in spring (Halliday 1970) and scarce in September through December, whereas C. maderensis made a substantial contribution to catches in all seasons. Data were insufficient to support a similar analysis for LSW. Relative species abundance in deep tows during the day was different from that in shallow night tows despite those deep tows being integrative over depth (as the net fished during retrieval as well as at depth). Though commonly occurring myctophids such as C. maderensis, B. glaciale, and L. dofleini are strong vertical migrators, differences are due to other deep-occurring fauna such as Cyclothone species, which do not migrate above about 300 m, and dragonfishes and eels, which only migrate into the upper few hundred meters as juveniles and thus contribute little to the shallow water fauna. As adults, Cyclothone live at greater depths, feeding on the small, vertical migrators. Although it is concluded above that the species list presented likely includes all species which occur regularly in the study area, sampling was directed mainly towards the fauna that occupied the 50–200 m zone at night, leaving other elements under-sampled. In particular, species with population centers below daytime depths of 1000 m, i.e., bigheads, omosudids, scopelarchids (Ebeling and 190 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 19, No. 2 Weed 1973, Johnson 1984, Post 1984, Scott and Scott 1988), and dragonfishes that do not regularly vertically migrate (Sutton and Hopkins 1996), were underrepresented. This underrepresentation is likely also the case for those species that are closely associated with the surface at night, e.g., the lanternfishes Centrobranchus nigroocellatus Günther (Roundnose Lanternfish) and Myctophum obtusirostre Tåning (Bluntsnout Lanternfish) (Karnella 1987, Nafpaktitis et al. 1977). Abundances of species with a small average adult size, such as the lanternfi shes Notolychnus valdiviae Brauer (Topside Lampfish) and Diogenichthys atlanticus Tåning (Longfin Lanternfish), were probably also underestimated since the IYGPT did not effectively sample animals less than ca. 20 mm in length. These under-sampled faunal elements are the most likely to yield new species records, consistent with the species accumulation curves. Of the 250 taxa identified from present collections as inhabitants of the mesopelagic zone in the northeastern part of the Slope Sea (Appendix 1), almost 100 were additions to the Canadian Atlantic checklist of Scott and Scott (1988). However, recent summaries of deepwater fish captures off New England from 75°W to 63°W (Hartel et al. 2008, Moore et al. 2003) establish that most of these species have been reported also from that area, and thus present records represent only minor range extensions. Nineteen of the present records are of species new to the entire Slope Sea, capture information for which is listed in Appendix 2. These were specimens of species that have been reported from the Caribbean and Sargasso seas, and likely had been transported north by the Gulf Stream and into the Slope Sea via WCRs. This expatriation mechanism, rather than insufficient sampling, likely explains, in large part, the high proportion of rare species in catches and the resulting lack of an asymptote in the species accumulation curve. Acknowledgments Scientists and students from the departments of biology at Dalhousie and Acadia universities, NS, and from the Atlantic Reference Centre, Huntsman Marine Science Centre, St. Andrews, NB, collaborated with Science Branch, DFO, Maritimes Region, in data collection. L. Van Guelpen, D. Markle, and K. Sulak (Atlantic Reference Centre) provided expert opinions on various taxonomic issues. We are particularly grateful to C. Dale (DFO), who was responsible for the logistics of at-sea sampling, served as chief scientist on several cruises, and developed systems for electronic data storage and retrieval. Funding for this research was provided by DFO. Reviews of an earlier draft of this paper were provided by L. Van Guelpen and K. McIsaac (DFO). 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Evseenko, S.A. 1982. Ichthyoplankton of Slope and Gulf Stream waters off Nova Scotia in late autumn 1974. Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fishery Science 3:127–139. Gartner, J.V., Jr., K.J. Sulak, S.W. Ross, and A.M. Necaise. 2008. Persistent near-bottom aggregations of mesopelagic animals along the North Carolina and Virginia continental slopes. Marine Biology 153:825–841. Gjosaeter, J., and Kawaguchi, K. 1980. A review of the world resources of mesopelagic fish. FAO Technical Report (193):1–157. Gotelli, N.J., and R.K. Colwell. 2001. Quantifying biodiversity: Procedures and pitfalls in the measurement and comparison of species richness. Ecology Letters 4:379–391. Halliday, R.G. 1970. Growth and vertical distribution of the Glacier Lanternfish, Benthosema glaciale, in the northwestern Atlantic. Journal of Fisheries Research Board of Canada 27:105–116. Halliday, R.G., D.E. Themelis, C.E. Dale, and G.D. Harrison. 1995. Oceanographic conditions off the Scotian Shelf during mesopelagic resource inventory cruises, 1984– 1989. Canadian Manuscript Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 2327. 303 pp. Harold, A.S., and D.S. Clark. 1990. First record of the subtropical Lightfish, Ichthyococcus ovatus (Photichthyidae), from the Canadian Atlantic region and its biogeographical significance. Naturaliste Canada 117:123–126. Hartel, K.E., C.P. Kenaley, J.K. Galbraith, and T.T. Sutton. 2008. Additional Records of Deep-sea Fishes from off Greater New England. Northeastern Naturalist 15(3):317–334 Hislop, J.R.G. 1970. Preliminary investigations on the pelagic 0-group phase of some demersal gadoids. ICES C.M.1970/F:12. 5 pp. Jahn, A.E., and R.H. Backus. 1976. On the mesopelagic faunas of the Slope Water, Gulf Strea m, and Sargasso Sea. Deep Sea Research 23:223–234. Johnson, R.K. 1984. Scopelarchidae. Pp. 484–488, In P.J.P. Whitehead, M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen, and E. Tortonese (Eds.). 1984–1986. 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Blackwell Science, Oxford, UK. 256 pp. McKelvie, D.S. 1985. Discreteness of pelagic faunal regions. Marine Biology 88:125–133. 192 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 19, No. 2 Moore, J.A., K.E. Hartel, J.E. Craddock, and J.K. Galbraith. 2003. An annotated list of deepwater fishes from off the New England region, with new area records. Northeastern Naturalist 10(2):159–248. Nafpaktitis, B.G., R.H. Backus, J.E. Craddock, R.L. Haedrich, B.H. Robison, and C. Karnella. 1977. Family Myctophidae. Fishes of the western North Atlantic. Memoir of the Sears Foundation for Marine Research 1(7):13–265. Petrie, B., and K. Drinkwater. 1993. Temperature and salinity variability on the Scotian Shelf and in the Gulf of Maine 1945–1990. Journal of Geophysical Research 98(Cl1):20,079–20,089. Post, A. 1984. Omosudidae. Pp. 496–497. In P.J. Whitehead, M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen, and E. Tortonese (Eds.). 1984–1986. Fishes of the Northeastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. UNESCO, Paris, France. 1473 pp. Scott, W.B., and M.G. Scott. 1988. Atlantic fishes of Canada. Canadian Bulletin of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 219. 731 pp. Simberloff, D. 1978. Use of rarefaction and related methods in ecology. Pp. 150–165, In K.L. Dickson, J. Cairns, Jr., and R.L. Livingston (Eds.). Biological Data in Water Pollution Assessment: Quantitative and Statistical Analyses. American Society for Testing and Materials STP 652.Philadelphia, PA. Sutton, T.T., and T.L. Hopkins. 1996. Species composition, abundance, and vertical distribution of the stomiid (Pisces: Stomiiformes) assemblage of the Gulf of Mexico. Bulletin of Marine Science 59:530–542. Worthington, L.V. 1964. Anomalous conditions in the Slope Water area in 1959. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 21:327–333. Wroblewski, J.S., and J. Cheney. 1984. Ichthyoplankton associated with a warm-core ring off Scotian Shelf. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 41:294–303. 2012 D.E. Themelis and R.G. Halliday 193 Family and species No. tows Catch Dalatiidae Etmopterus princeps Collett 4 4 Squaliolus laticaudus Smith and Radcliffe* 3 3 Notacanthidae Notacanthus bonaparte Risso* 1 1 Nemichthyidae Avocettina infans (Günther)* 3 3 Nemichthys curvirostris (Strömman) ** 2 2 N. scolopaceus Richardson 249 1115 Derichthyidae Derichthys serpentinus Gill 19 36 Nessorhamphus ingolfianus (Schmidt) 56 98 Serrivomeridae Serrivomer beani Gill and Ryder 149 1266 S. lanceolatoides (Schmidt) 10 11 Eurypharyngidae Eurypharynx pelecanoides Vaillant 41 157 Bathylagidae Melanolagus bericoides (Borodin) 36 59 Dolicholagus longirostris (Maul) 69 187 Bathylagus euryops Goode and Bean 58 408 Bathylagichthys greyae (Cohen) 13 21 Microstomatidae Nansenia groenlandica (Reinhardt) 5 6 N. oblita (Facciola) 3 3 Appendix 1. Frequency of occurrence and total catch of fish taxa captured in 302 mid-water tows in the Slope Sea adjacent to Nova Scotia. (* addition to Canadian Atlantic checklist of Scott and Scott (1988); ** new record for Slope Sea.) 1Reported from the Flemish Cap by Harold and Clark (1990). Family and species No. tows Catch Alepocephalidae Einara edentula (Alcock)* 1 1 Photostylus pycnopterus (Beebe)* 2 2 Rinoctes nasutus (Koefoed) 1 1 Xenodermichthys copei (Gill) 1 1 Platytroctidae Normichthys operosus Parr 12 22 Searsia koefoedi Parr* 5 5 Gonostomatidae Bonapartia pediolota Goode and Bean 10 30 Cyclothone spp. 49 4482 Diplophos taenia Günther 10 11 Gonostoma atlanticum Norman* 10 26 G. denudatum Rafinesque** 6 8 G. elongatum Günther 234 3020 Margrethia obtusirostra Jespersen and Tåning 26 36 Sigmops bathyphilum (Vaillant) 1 1 Phosichthyidae Ichthyococcus ovatus (Cocco)*,1 7 12 Pollichthys mauli (Poll) 41 107 Vinciguerria attenuata (Cocco) 104 943 V. nimbaria (Jordan and Williams) 125 829 V. poweriae (Cocco) 82 392 Sternoptychidae Argyropelecus aculeatus Valenciennes 180 2370 A. affinis Garman 4 4 194 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 19, No. 2 Family and species No. tows Catch A. gigas Norman 5 5 A. hemigymnus Cocco 88 263 A. sladeni Regan* 16 20 Maurolicus weitzmani Parin and Kobylianski 95 286 Polyipnus clarus Harold 50 113 Sternoptyx diaphana Hermann 56 370 S. pseudobscura Baird* 4 4 Valenciennellus tripunctulatus (Esmark) 59 132 Stomiidae: Astronesthinae Astronesthes cyaneus (Brauer)** 1 1 A. cyclophotus ** 1 1 A. gemmifer Goode and Bean 2 3 A. leucopogon Regan and Trewavas 1 1 A. micropogon * 1 1 A. neopogan (Regan and Trewavas) * 1 1 A. niger Richardson 9 11 A. similus Parr* 3 3 Borostomias antarcticus (Lönnberg) 18 18 Neonesthes capensis (Gilchrist and von Bonde)* 1 1 Rhadinesthes decimus (Zugmayer) * 1 1 Stomiidae: Chauliodontinae Chauliodus danae Regan and Trewavas 3 8 C. sloani Bloch and Schneider 280 2792 Stomiidae: Idiacanthinae Idiacanthus fasciola Peters 17 23 Stomiidae: Malacosteinae Aristostomias grimaldii Zugmayer* 1 1 A. lunifer Regan and Trewavas 1 1 Family and species No. tows Catch A. tittmanni Welsh 13 17 Malacosteus niger Ayres 46 109 Photostomias guernei Collett 122 245 Stomiidae: Melanostominae Bathophilus brevis Regan and Trewavas* 1 1 B. longipinnis (Pappenheim) * 1 1 B. vaillanti (Zugmayer) 5 5 Chirostomias pliopterus Regan and Trewavas 7 10 Echiostoma barbatum Lowe 5 6 Eustomias acinosus Regan & Trewavas ** 2 2 E. bibulbosus Parr* 1 1 E. braueri Zugmayer** 2 2 E. dubius Parr** 1 1 E. filifer (Gilchrist)* 8 13 E. longibarba Parr** 1 1 E. macronema Regan* 1 1 E. obscurus Vaillant* 2 2 E. polyaster Parr* 1 1 E. schmidti Regan & Trewavas* 5 6 E. simplex Regan & Trewavas** 2 2 Flagellostomias boureei (Zugmayer)* 4 4 Grammatostomias dentatus Goode and Bean * 1 2 G. flagellibarba Holt* 1 1 Leptostomias gladiator (Zugmayer)* 14 17 L. haplocaulus Regan and Trewavas** 2 2 L. longibarba Regan and Trewavas* 4 4 Melanostomias bartonbeani Parr 84 168 M. biseriatus Regan and Trewavas* 1 1 M. tentaculatus (Regan and Trewavas)* 2 2 2012 D.E. Themelis and R.G. Halliday 195 Family and species No. tows Catch M. valdiviae Brauer 1 1 Pachystomias microdon (Günther)* 5 5 Photonectes braueri (Zugmayer)* 1 1 P. margarita (Goode and Bean) 10 11 Stomiidae: Stominae Stomias boa (Risso) 246 1442 S. longibarbatus (Brauer)* 1 1 Scopelarchidae Benthalbella infans Zugmayer 2 2 Scopelarchus analis (Brauer) 9 9 S. michaelsarsi Koefoed* 4 4 Notosudidae Ahliesaurus berryi Bertelsen, Krefft and Marshall* 3 4 Scopelosaurus argenteus (Maul)* 1 1 S. lepidus (Krefft and Maul) 32 52 S. smithii Bean* 5 11 Paralepididae Arctozenus risso (Bonaparte) 244 4974 Lestidiops affinis (Ege) 54 222 L. jayakari (Boulenger) 6 14 Lestidium atlanticum Borodin* 9 12 Lestrolepis intermedia (Poey)* 9 17 Macroparalepis affinis Ege* 26 89 Magnisudis atlantica (Krøyer) 18 148 Paralepis brevirostris (Parr)* 11 31 P. coregonoides Risso 2 6 P. elongata (Brauer)* 1 1 Stemonosudis intermedia (Ege) 7 11 Family and species No. tows Catch Sudis hyalina Rafinesque* 40 53 Uncisudis advena (Rofen)* 7 20 Anotopteridae Anotopterus pharao Zugmayer 1 1 Evermanellidae Coccorella atlantica (Parr)* 20 30 Evermanella balbo (Risso) 67 121 E. indica Brauer 18 31 Omosudidae Omosudis lowei Günther* 1 1 Alepisauridae Alepisaurus ferox Lowe 6 7 Myctophidae Benthosema glaciale (Reinhardt) 260 59163 B. suborbitale (Gilbert) 43 154 Bolinichthys indicus (Nafpaktitus and Nafpaktitus) 98 842 Bolinichthys photothorax (Parr) 11 13 B. supralateralis (Parr) 26 43 Centrobranchus nigroocellatus (Günther) 1 1 Ceratoscopelus maderensis (Lowe) 296 71476 C. warmingii (Lütken) 126 3733 Diaphus bertelseni Nafpaktitis** 9 14 D. brachycephalus Tåning * 30 48 D. dumerilii (Bleeker) 166 1349 D. effulgens (Goode and Bean) 53 187 D. fragilis Tåning* 2 4 D. garmani Gilbert* 1 3 196 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 19, No. 2 Family and species No. tows Catch D. holti Tåning** 1 4 D. lucidus (Goode & Bean) 46 112 D. luetkeni (Brauer) 1 1 D. metopoclampus (Cocco) 33 62 D. mollis (Tåning) 77 860 D. perspicillatus (Ogilby) 42 340 D. rafinesquii (Cocco) 116 637 D.roei Nafpaktitis** 1 1 D. splendidus (Brauer) 21 35 D. termophilus (Tåning) 2 3 Diogenichthys atlanticus (Tåning) 14 36 Electrona risso (Cocco) 1 1 Gonichthys cocco (Cocco) 6 6 Hygophum benoiti (Cocco) 131 3560 H. hygomii (Lütken) 147 10913 H. macrochir Günther * 2 2 H. reinhardtii (Lütken)* 35 67 H. taaningi Becker 16 36 Lampadena anomala Parr* 9 9 L. urophaos atlantica Maul* 37 69 L. chavesi Collett 11 16 L. luminosa (Garman) 11 13 L. speculigera Goode and Bean 85 203 L. alatus Goode and Bean 138 308 L. crocodilus (Risso) 185 1286 L. festivus Tåning 32 74 L. intricarius Tåning 8 12 L. macdonaldi (Goode and Bean) 24 99 L. nobilis Tåning* 7 16 L. photonotus Parr 104 564 Family and species No. tows Catch L. pusillus (Johnson) 156 1720 Lepidophanes gaussi (Brauer)* 17 131 L. guentheri (Goode and Bean) 153 3407 Lobianchia dofleini (Zugmayer) 215 33577 L. gemellarii (Cocco) 131 1329 Loweina rara (Lütken)* 11 12 Myctophum affine (Lütken) 44 190 M. asperum Richardson 1 3 M. nitidulum Garman* 5 5 M. obtusirostre Tåning* 2 2 M. punctatum Rafinesque 150 1823 M. selenops Tåning 52 183 Nannobrachium atrum (Tåning) 125 503 N. cuprarium (Tåning)* 8 12 N. lineatum (Tåning) 67 201 Notolychnus valdiviae (Brauer) 1 1 Notoscopelus bolini (Nafpaktitis) 12 12 N. caudispinosus (Johnson) 70 575 N. elongatus (Costa) 36 521 N. resplendens Richardson 192 7970 Protomyctophum arcticum (Lütken) 20 70 Symbolophorus veranyi (Moreau) 99 329 Taaningichthys bathyphilus (Tåning) 16 22 T. minimus (Tåning) 5 7 Bregmacerotidae Bregmaceros sp.* 45 80 Gadidae Micromesistius poutassou (Risso) 1 1 2012 D.E. Themelis and R.G. Halliday 197 Family and species No. tows Catch Melanonidae Melanonus zugmayeri Norman* 40 68 Trachipteridae Zu cristatus (Bonelli)* 5 5 Regalecidae Regalecus glesne Ascanius* 5 5 Stylephoridae Stylephorus chordatus Shaw* 3 3 Ceratiidae Cryptopsaras couesii Gill 57 82 Linophrynidae Haplophryne mollis (Brauer)* 6 6 Linophryne macrodon Regan* 3 3 L. coronata Parr 1 1 Oneirodidae Danaphryne nigrifilis (Regan and Trewavas)* 1 1 Lophodolus acanthognathus Regan 4 4 Oneirodes epithales Orr 1 1 Phyllorhinichthys micractis Pietsch** 1 1 Leptacanthichthys gracilispinus Regan 1 1 Microlophichthys microlophus (Regan) 1 1 Thaumatichthyidae Lasiognathus beebei Regan and Trewavas 1 1 Himantolophidae Himantolophus sp. 5 5 Family and species No. tows Catch Melanocetidae Melanocetus johnsonii Günther 5 5 M. murrayi Günther* 2 2 Diretmidae Diretmus argenteus Johnson 14 23 Anoplogasteridae Anoplogaster cornuta (Valenciennes) 24 33 Melamphaidae Melamphaes eulepis Ebeling** 3 4 M. leprus Ebeling 1 1 M. longivelis Parr* 1 1 M. polylepis Ebeling** 1 1 M. suborbitalis (Gill) 47 98 M. typhlops (Lowe)* 29 140 Poromitra capito Goode and Bean 52 101 P. megalops (Lütken) 4 4 Scopeloberyx opisthopterus (Parr) 30 157 S. robustus (Günther)* 3 22 Scopelogadus beanii (Günther) 53 499 S. mizolepis (Günther)* 17 127 Rondeletiidae Rondeletia loricata Abe and Hotta 10 12 Zenionidae Zenion hololepis (Goode and Bean) 1 1 Parazenidae Cyttopsis rosea (Lowe) 1 1 198 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 19, No. 2 Family and species No. tows Catch Zoarcidae Melanostigma atlanticum Koefoed 1 5 Centrolophidae Schedophilus medusophagus (Cocco) 1 1 Centrolophus niger (Cocco) 2 2 Nomeidae Cubiceps gracilis (Lowe) 11 21 C. pauciradiatus Günther 30 63 Psenes maculatus Lütken 19 28 P. pellucidus Lütken 8 10 Ariommatidae Ariomma sp. 34 103 Tetragonuridae Tetragonurus atlanticus Lowe 3 3 Family and species No. tows Catch Grammicolepididae Grammicolepis brachiusculus Poey 2 2 Centriscidae Macrorhamphosus scolopax (L.) 1 1 Epigonidae Epigonus pandionis (Goode and Bean)* 1 1 Howellidae Howella sherborni (Norman) 133 393 Bramidae Pterycombus brama Fries 16 17 Caristiidae Caristius groenlandicus Jensen 7 7 Chiasmodontidae Chiasmodon sp. 58 112 Pseudoscopelus altipinnus Parr** 1 1 Pseudoscopelus sp. 27 30 Scombrolabracidae Scombrolabrax heterolepis Roule* 2 2 Gempylidae Diplospinus multistriatus Maul * 31 59 Gempylus serpens Cuvier* 1 1 Nealotus tripes Johnson 64 247 Neoepinnula orientalis (Gilchrist and von Bonde) ** 1 1 Nesiarchus nasutus Johnson* 4 4 Trichiuridae Aphanopus carbo 6 6 Benthodesmus simonyi 39 85 2012 D.E. Themelis and R.G. Halliday 199 Appendix 2. New distributional records for the Slope Sea: capture latitude and longitude, depth (m), quantity: standard length, or head length for Nemichthys, in mm, and catalogue number for specimens archived at the Atlantic Reference Centre (ARC). Species name Capture information and catalogue number Nemichthys curvirostris Two records: 42°49'N, 54°08'W, 990 m, 1: 35 mm, ARC8603083; 40°44'N, 63°39'W, 201 m, 1: 21 mm Gonostoma denudatum Six records: 42°42'N, 57°09'W, 215 m, 1: 31 mm, ARC9915906; 42°41'N, 56°31'W, 195 m, 1: 38 mm, ARC21476; 44°34'N, 54°34'W, 205 m, 2: 28, 48 mm, ARC21475; 41°20'N, 52°48'W, 205 m, 1: 35 mm, ARC9915981; 41°3'N, 56°53'W, 200 m, 1: 53 mm, ARC21473; 42°08'N, 56°22'W, 200 m, 2: 42,52 mm, ARC9915955 Astronesthes cyclophotus One record: 41°50'N, 61°52'W, 203 m,1: 57mm Astronesthes cyaneus One record: 41°32'N, 53° 38'W, 205 m, 1: 68 mm, ARC21511 Eustomias acinosus Two records: 41°19'N, 62°01'W, 315 m, 1: 94 mm, ARC16651 41°50'N, 61°52'W, 280 m, 1: 106 mm, ARC17529 Eustomias braueri Two records:42°00'N, 55°15'W, 205 m, 1 specimen, ARC8602669; 41°56'N, 63°00'W, 211 m, 1:183 mm Eustomias dubius One record: 41°37'N, 59°48'W, 315 m, 1: 65 mm, ARC16462 Eustomias longibarba One record: 42°21'N, 54°47'W, 195 m, 1: 130 mm, ARC8603057 Eustomias macronema One record: 40°59'N, 59°01'W, 203 m, 1: 134mm Eustomias simplex Two records: 40°54'N, 57°07'W, 205 m, 1: 150 mm, ARC8602309 41°15'N, 59°00'W, 198 m, 1:122 mm, ARC7712 Leptostomias haplocaulus Two records: 41°28'N, 59°40'W, 900 m, 1: 380 mm, ARC16795; 42°22'N, 60°55'W, 199 m, 1: 167mm Diaphus bertelseni Nine records: 41°32'N, 53°38'W, 205 m, 2: 45, 45 mm, ARC21427; 41°58'N, 55°42'W, 859 m, 1: 54 mm, ARC20813; 42°08'N, 56°22'W, 200 m, 1: 38 mm, ARC21026; 41°52'N, 58°59'W, 630 m, 1: 66 mm, ARC16851; 40°59'N, 59°01'W, 203 m, 3: 24–39 mm, ARC19444; 42°13'N, 63°43'W, 201 m, 1: 27 mm, ARC9915160; 42°09'N, 63°27'W, 204 m, 1: 21 mm, ARC9915169; 43°16'N, 60°24'W, 440 m, 1; 25 mm, ARC9915250; 42°31'N, 61°02'W, 205 m, 3: 26–39 mm 200 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 19, No. 2 Species name Capture information and catalogue number Diaphus holti One record: 42°13'N, 63°43'W, 201 m, 4: 21–33 mm, ARC9915159 Diaphus roei One record: 40°55'N, 61°29'W, 203 m, 1: 38 mm, ARC24351 Phyllorhinichthys micractis One record: 41°05'N, 990 m, 1: 35 mm, ARC8602570 Melamphaes eulepis Three records: 41°04'N, 61°37'W, 204 m, 2: 32–53 mm, ARC16617; 42°29'N, 60°40'W, 50 m, 1: 38 mm, ARC18998; 40°59'N, 59°01'W, 203 m, 1: 32 mm Melamphaes polylepis One record: 41°06'N, 63°09'W, 200 m, 1: 36 mm, ARC17079 Pseudoscopelus altipinnus One record: 41°35'N, 63°54'W, 1000 m, 1: 81 mm, ARC9914751 Neoepinnula orientalis One record: 41°58'N, 55°42'W, 859 m, 1: 37 mm, ARC9914696