Anelídeos Polychaeta associados a bancos de corais de profundidade da Bacia de Campos – Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Abstract

Cold-water coral reefs are of great ecological importance, they can support a great diversity associated with. They can offer a sheltered, three-dimensional, micro-habitat to many species. Studies involving the Brazilian deep-sea coral reefs, and the fauna which composes it, are recent and still scarce. These reefs were studied only in terms of the species of coral which composes it and their distribution in our coast, as the benthic fauna which are associated with this environment. Two projects, CAP-BC and ECOPROF, coordinated by CENPES/PETROBRAS, surveyed the Campos Basin (located at the northeast of Rio de Janeiro) with the objective of studying this environment and the associated fauna. On each project samples of the reef-building corals were collected with a ROV, at depths from 245 to 1100m. Five species of coral were surveyed: Solenosmilia variabilis Duncan, 1873, Lophelia pertusa (Linnaeus, 1758), Enallopsammia rostrata (Portualès, 1758), Madrepora oculata Linnaeus, 1758 and Errina sp.,and fixed in formalin 10% and sorted at the laboratory. Here in, we present the first, qualitative, results from the polychaetes found in association with the coral reefs in Campos BasinThe specie of Eunice prognatha McIntosh, 1885 were the most abundant, followed by Harmothoe gilchristi (Day, 1960) and Nicon maculata Kimberg, 1866. The majority of polychaetes were found associated to the coral S. variabilis, followed by E. profunda and L. pertusa, both M. oculata and Errina sp. were the corals with less associated polychaetes. Five new species of Polychaeta are reported: Harmothoe sp. (Polynoidae), Pholoides sp. (Sigalionidae), Leocratides sp. (Hesionidae), Euchone sp. (Sabellidae) and Ophryotrocha sp. (Dorvilleidae).Specimens identified as Glycerella magellanica (McIntosh, 1885), Harmothoe gilchristi (Day, 1960), Eunice gracilicirrata (Treadwell, 1922), Eunice prognatha McIntosh, 1885, Pionosyllis procera Hartman, 1965, Haplosyllis ohma (Imajima & Hartman, 1964) and Nicon maculata Kimberg, 1866, are new occurrence for the Brazilian coast. Two other species, Filogranula revizee Nogueira & Abbud, 2009 and Notopygos crinita Grube, 1855had their range of occurrence extended. This is the first study aiming on the polychaetes associated with deep sea corals in the Brazilian waters, further studies should be conducted to better understand the distribution of species described here in, as well as to better understand the polychaete assemblage associated with each species of coral.