Anchialine fauna of the Corona lava tube (Lanzarote, Canary Islands): diversity, endemism and distribution
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Anchialine fauna of the Corona lava tube (Lanzarote, Canary Islands): diversity, endemism and distribution Alejandro Martínez García & Ana María Palmero & María del Carmen Brito & Jorge Núñez & Katrine Worsaae
Received: 8 April 2009 / Revised: 11 July 2009 / Accepted: 20 July 2009 / Published online: 28 August 2009 # Senckenberg, Gesellschaft für Naturforschung and Springer 2009
Abstract A checklist of 77 taxa recorded from the anchialine sections of the Corona lava tube is provided, including information on habitats, faunal distribution within the cave, and main references. Of the nine major groups recorded, Crustacea shows the highest diversity with 31 species and the highest degree of endemism (90.0%). Twenty-five species of Annelida are reported, 16 of which also occur in offshore waters (36.0% endemic). Except for two species, all annelids are benthic or interstitial species, whereas most of the crustaceans are either nektonic or epibenthic. Additionally, 13 species of Mollusca, 2 Nematoda, 2 Cnidaria, and 1 species each of Priapula, Ctenophora, Echinodermata and Echiura, are known from the lava tube, of which only 1 mollusc is endemic to this cave system. Keywords Colonization process . Jameos del Agua . Cave environments . Checklist
Introduction The Corona lava tube is a 21,000-year-old cave located near the northern tip of Lanzarote (Canary Islands) (Carracedo et al. 2003). It extends more than 6,000 m from
: J. Núñez A. Martínez García M. d. delBrito C. Brito García (*) (*) I: A. M. Palmero :I M. I J. Núñez Laboratorio de Bentos, Departamento de Biología Animal, Universidad de La Laguna, Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez, La Laguna, Canary Islands, Spain e-mail: [email protected] A. Martínez García : K. Worsaae Marine Biological Laboratory, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Strandpromenaden 5, DK-3000 Helsingør, Denmark
the Corona volcano to the shoreline and continues a further 1,618 m into the sea as the Túnel de la Atlántida. The cave exhibits diverse geological features (Wilkens et al. this issue), but the majority of the studies on this system have addressed the extraordinarily high aquatic faunal diversity, which comprises a striking combination of both stygobiotic taxa with high degrees of adaptation to the cave environment, as well as stygophilic, opportunistic or even accidental inhabitants (Iliffe et al. 1984). The submerged portion of the lava tube can be divided into two discrete environments: water column and benthic, each with its own characteristic fauna. The water column when compared to open ocean environments is characterized by distinct hydrological properties: low and relatively stable temperature, low tidal currents (due to the large diameter of the cave passages), and minimal or no primary production (Iliffe et al. 2000). In contrast to other cave systems, the water column exhibits no vertical or horizontal stratification in salinity, temperature and oxygen (Wilkens et al. this issue). The benthic environment is more complex and includes several hab
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