Nova Southeastern University NSUWorks Oceanography Faculty Articles Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences 7-1-1978 Zoogeography of Tropical Western Atlantic Crinoidea (Echinodermata) David L. Meyer University of Cincinnati - Main Campus Charles G. Messing University of Miami, [email protected] Donald B. Macurda Jr. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Find out more information about Nova Southeastern University and the Oceanographic Center. Follow this and additional works at: http://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles Part of the Marine Biology Commons, and the Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons Recommended Citation Meyer, David L., Charles G. Messing, and Donald B. Macurda Jr. "Biological results of the University of Miami deep-sea expeditions. 129. Zoogeography of tropical western Atlantic Crinoidea (Echinodermata)." Bulletin of Marine Science 28, no. 3 (1978): 412-441. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences at NSUWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Oceanography Faculty Articles by an authorized administrator of NSUWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BULLETIN OF MARINE SCIENCE, 28(3): 412-441, 1978 BIOLOGICAL RESULTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MTAMI DEEP-SEA EXPEDITIONS. 129. ZOOGEOGRAPHY OF TROPICAL WESTERN ATLANTIC CRINOIDEA (ECHINODERMATA) David L. Meyer, Charles G. Messing, and Donald B. Macurda, Jr. ABSTRACT Recent collcctions of crinoids from the intertidal zone to ],650 m in the tropical western Atlantic have provided significant range extensions for more than half of the 44 comatulid and stalked species known from the region. Of the 34 comatulid species, over 60% are endemic to the region; of the 10 stalked species, 90% are endemic. At the familial level, this fauna has its strongest affinities with the tropical Indo-Pacific region. Comatulids are most abundant above 300 ill, while stalked species occur primarily between 100 and 700 ill. Species that occur primarily above 600 ill (the deepest penetration of the 10°C isotherm in the region) have depth ranges generally narrower than 200 m. Species that are found below 1,000 m generally have much broader depth ranges. During the 1950's and 1960's, extensive of this region in both diversity and abundance collections of marine life were made in the of crinoids, and is also the most intensively tropical western Atlantic Ocean by M/V studied part to date. The Blake Plateau and OREGON,operated by the U.S. Fish and Wild- the coast of the United States from south- life Service, and R/V ]OHNELLIOTTPILLS- eastern Florida to Cape Lookout, North BURY and R/V GERDA,in connection with Carolina, appear to represent a warm temper- the University of Miami's Deep-Sea Biology ate transitional zone. At least regarding Program. These collections have generously crinoids, this zone is more closely related to broadened our knowledge of the marine bio- the tropics than to more northerly waters. geography of the region, a knowledge based With the exception of the more tropical previously on the expeditions of the 19th and Flower Garden Banks, south of Port Arthur, early 20th centuries. The recent widespread Texas, the northern Gulf of Mexico also use of SCUBA in marine research has opened falls into this zone. For the crinoid fauna, up previously inaccessible environments and however, the precise tropical-temperate has thus added to the picture. boundaries in the Gulf are unknown. The This paper summarizes zoogeographical difficulties encountered in erecting marine and bathymetric data on the Crinoidea zoogeographic boundaries are compounded (Echinodermata) collected by these vessels by species, including many crinoids, that are and by SCUBA and presents revised distribu- limited to warm water latitudes but that live tions for many of the 44 species, both comat- in deeper, colder waters. The parameters ulid and stalked, currently known from the governing the distribution of these deep tropical western Atlantic. In this paper, the water, tropical species remain largely un- tropical western Atlantic region extends from defined. southeastern Florida southward along the The tropical western Atlantic crinoids first Antillean Arc to Trinidad, and along the became widely known during the period of Brazilian coast as far south as Rio de Janeiro, intensive oceanographic exploration of the and includes the Caribbean Sea, southern late 1800's. The U.S. Coast Survey pio- Gulf of Mexico, and the Bahama Islands. neered the work in this region during the The Caribbean, including the Antillean Arc late 1860's (Pourtales, 1867, 1869), fol- and the Bahamas, constitutes the richest part lowed by the extensive work of BLAKE 412 MEYER ET AL.: CRINOID ZOOGEOGRAPHY 413 (1877-80) and the U.S. Fish Commission Florida using the collections made from RjV vessel ALBATROSS (1884-85). CHALLEN- GERDAin the 1960's. GER visited the Caribbean in 1873. The BLAKE and ALBATROSScollections provided MATERIALSANDMETHODS the bulk of the material on which studies of Crinoids were taken at approximately 25% tropical western Atlantic crinoids have been of the successful bottom stations made by based until recently (Pourtales, 1878; Car- PILLSBURY and GERDA. We have included penter, 1881, 1884, 1888; Hartlaub, 1895, several RjV COLUMBUS ISELIN (University 1912; A. H. Clark, 1915, 1921a, b, 1923a, of Miami) stations, as well as OREGON ma- b, 1931,1947,1950; A. H. Clark and A. M. terial in the University of Miami collections. Clark, 1967). In particular, A. H. Clark's These specimens were divided among the "Monograph of the existing crinoids" repre- three authors in such a way that each investi- sents a comprehensive systematic treatment gator examined some representatives of most of the comatulid crinoids which summarized of the species. Macurda took primary re- all previous information on the group. Car- sponsibility for the stalked crinoids and n~n- penter (1884, p. 374-385) summarized all comasterid comatulids; Messing has studied previous records of stalked crinoids in the all comatulids from the Straits of Florida tropical western Atlantic and elsewhere. (Messing, unpublished thesis and 1978); and A. H. Clark (1923a) listed all comatulid Meyer took primary responsibility for the and stalked crinoids known from the Atlantic comasterid comatulids. Identifications were and provided keys. made following A. H. Clark's monograph for Collection of additional crinoid matenal In the comatulids, and Carpenter (1884), Clark the Caribbean and adjacent areas during the (1923b), and Gislen (1938) for the stalk~d late 19th and early 20th centuries was due crinoids. The distributional and bathymetnc mainly to the University of Iowa's Bahamas summaries presented for each species com- Expedition of 1893 (H. L. Clark, 1918) and bine all previous records with the new ma- Barbados-Antigua Expedition of 1918 (A. H. terial, and range extensions are indicated. Clark, 1921b) and Woods Hole Oceano- Appendix 1 lists the stations at which each graphic Institution's RjV ATLANTIS, operat- species was collected. GERDAoperated in the ing off Cuba in 1938-39 (R. L. Clark, 1941). Straits of Florida and Yucatan Channel; More recently, Tommasi (1965, 1969, PILLSBURYcollected chiefly in the Caribbean 1971a) reported on Brazilian crinoids, a proper. species from the Gulf of Mexico (1966) and The bathymetric distribution of each spe- a series of collections made by MjV OREGON cies is presented as both a confirmed depth from Florida to Brazil (l971b). Zoppi de range and possible depth range because of ~he Roa (1967) listed crinoids from the Vene- uncertainties inherent in deep-sea collectmg zuelan coast. Diving investigations of the methods. The actual depth at which trawling Caribbean crinoids above 60 m were initiated or dredging gear is operating can almost by Meyer in the 1960's and have been con- never be determined with certainty. Depths tinued by Meyer and Macurda (Meyer, 1972, measured by a Precision Depth Recorder do 1973a, b; Macurda, 1973, 1975; Meyer and not necessarily coincide with actual gear Macurda, 1976). Crinoids from the West depth. Furthermore, one cannot always be Flower Garden Bank, Gulf of Mexico, have certain the gear is actually on the bottom for been listed by Burke (1974). The first direct the duration of the trawL A range of depth observations of stalked crinoids were made is usually given for each station, since depth from the submersible NEKTON GAMMA in changes are recorded during the entire period 1972 (Macurda and Meyer, 1974). Messing of trawling. Specimens can be taken from (unpublished thesis) studied the systematics any part of that depth range, which is often and distribution of crinoids in the Straits of considerable. 414 BULLETIN OF MARINE SCIENCE, VOL. 28, NO.3, 1978 In the following text, the possible depth Neocomatella alata: A. H. Clark, 1931: 142- range of a species extends from the shallow- 150. est point of the shallowest station to the Material examined.-289 specimens; 38 stations. deepest point of the deepest station at which Distribution.-Southeastern Gulf of Mexico the species was collected. The confirmed (Campeche Bank and Florida continental range extends from the deepest point of the shelf) ; Bahama and Turks and Caicos shallowest station to the shallowest point of Islands; Antillean Arc from the north coast the deepest station. While a species may of Cuba to Grenada and Barbados; Arrow- occur throughout the former range, it must smith Bank in the YucaUin Channel; San occur within the latter. BIas Islands off Panama; off Venezuela; S1. Additional sources of error occur in the Paul's Rocks; off Guanabara, Brazil. A collecting and recording process. Occasion- questionable record exists from off Cape Ca- ally, specimens caught in the netting are naveral, Florida. washed into the cod end during the next The GERDAmaterial extends the known haul and are included with the catch from range northward along the Bahamian side of the subsequent station. This can result in a the Straits of Florida, north of the Little species being recorded far out of its normal Bahama Bank and into the Northwest Provi- depth range.