A Geographical Information System (GIS) Atlas of cephalopod distribution in the Southern Ocean

The geographic distributions of many Antarctic cephalopod species are not well understood. Many may be influenced by physical factors such as water masses, ice extent or bathymetry. For example, there is an apparent association of mesoscale oceanographic features with some species (Rodhouse et al. 1996). Such associations suggest certain physical factors in the environment that may be predictors of foraging locations for cephalopods and/or their predators. Improving our understanding of such interrelations is important in developing a better scientific basis for conservation and sustainable management of commercial fisheries (Trathan et al. 1993). A total of 2497 geographic positions of 21 species of squid (suborder Oegopsida) were obtained, combining data from 1886 (Challenger Expedition) to 1997. There are huge areas without any geographic positions that appear under-sampled. The best represented species were G. glacialis (625 geographic positions), B. picta (412), T. filippovae (293), B. abyssicola (250), M. hamiltoni (188), M. hyadesi (184) and P. glacialis (112). The maps of the species distribution in relation to bathymetry, ocean fronts and sea-ice extent are on World Wide Web page: http://www.nerc-bas.ac.uWpublic/dsd/squid-atlas/ A detailed bibliography is also provided ther