ABSTRACT
The research was conducted at Hydrographers Passage (20.0º S, 150.4º E), 200 km off the coast of Queensland (Fig. 1) in October 2007 and August 2008 using the RV Southern Surveyor (Marine National Facility, voyages SS07/2007 and SS09/2008). An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) was used to survey and image the seafloor. The AUV remained at a constant altitude of 2 m and captured time-stamped images every half-second. A Wetlabs EcoPuck Fluorometer mounted
1 INTRODUCTION
Ophiuroids are well known to form dense aggregations in most of the world’s marine zones from intertidal to deep-sea habitats in tropical, temperate, and polar regions (Kingston 1980, Summers and Nybakken 2000, Metaxas and Giffin 2004, Oak and Scheibling 2006, Brooks et al. 2007). These dense brittlestar aggregations show their effectiveness as suspension feeders and are important as conduits between the benthic and pelagic environments (Warner and Woodley 1975, Brooks et al. 2007). Suspension-feeding ophiuroids exhibit a preference for current-dominated habitats where they are supported by high nutrient flow (Broom 1975, Warner 1979). Because cycling and resuspension of food particles increases the odds of successful capture, suspension feeders are often found on the leeward side of structures, where the eddying and low velocity aids in food capture (Warner 1977).
