Quantitative Untersuchungen über das Meiobenthos der nordatlantischen Tiefsee

The meiofauna of the deep sea areas (800-5500 m) between Madeira and Lisbon was quantitatively investigated during the "Meteor" cruises in 1970 and 1971. With respect to numbers and biomass the meiofauna (especially nematodes and harpacticoid copepods) of the investigated areas is relatively poor averaging about 66,000 individuals per m2 and 34 mg per m2 wet weight biomass (polychaetes and foraminifera excluded). Regional differences are more pronounced in the investigated areas than differences due to depths. A comparison with the results of other authors from other areas confirms the regional variations in the meiofauna abundance of the deep sea