Taxonomical study of deep-sea gastropods off northeastern Japan

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23570126
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Biodiversity/Systematics
• Research Institution: National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: KAZUNORI Hasegawa 独立行政法人国立科学博物館, 動物研究部, 研究主幹 (70270410)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-28 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 腹足類 / 分類学 / 日本海溝 / 深海帯 / 超深海帯

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Gastropod specimens collected at bathyal, abyssal and hadal depths (200-7500 m in depths) by various research cruises were studied taxonomically, resulting in recognition of 185 species in the bathyal zone (200-2000 m, including results of previous studies) and 173 in the abyssal and hadal zones. Careful analyses of vertical and geographical distributions of each species revealed the the ecological relationships among those species in deep-sea system. Species exhibiting a wide vertical distribution often possess various phenotypes depending on the depths of habitat, and future molecular phylogenetic study will be necessary to clarify the detailed relationships among those forms. Probable undescribed species occupy nearly 70% of total species occurred at depths below 2000 m, and descriptions of these species will also be a future subject.

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