Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2007, Page 162

160
SOFT BOTTOM MACRO FAUNA SPECIES COMPOSITION IN FAROESE FJORDS
From Table 4 it can be seen that the less
common species are a mixture of different
feeding types.
Comparison with other Faroese
investigations
Bloch et al. (1986) took samples from all
the major fjords in the Faroe Islands and
analyzed for different physical and chemi-
cal parameters as well as grab samples for
faunal analyses were taken. Due to incom-
plete identification (polychaetes are not in-
cluded) it is not possible to say anything
about any diversity measure. It is although
possible to recognize the most abundant of
species from the other taxonomic groups.
Abra nitida, Thyasira sp. and Ennucula
tenuis are clearly among the most abun-
dant.
Nørrevang (1990) took samples from
seven different localities in Faroese fjords,
three stations from Skálafjørður, one sta-
tion from Kaldbaksljørður, two from Sun-
dini and one in Funningsijørður. All sta-
tions were sampled with three replicates
except one station from Skálafjørður (only
one sample) and all samples were 0.1 m2
grab samples. He found 97 species in total.
69.1% of the total species number were
polychaetes, 19.6% molluscs, 1.0 % crus-
taceans, 2.1% echinoderms and 8.2 % of
the species were from other groups. Com-
pared to the total fmdings in the present in-
vestigation (Table 2) it is a very good
match. This is not the case when we look at
the number of individuals. 45.5% of the
total number of inđividuals (7199) were
polychaetes, 25.9% molluscs, 0.01% crus-
taceans, 0.04% echinoderms and 28.6%
from other groups. Compared to the data in
Table 2 it can be seen that the polychaet
group has a much smaller number while
the molluscs and especially the other
groups have much higher numbers than in
the present paper. The average abundance/
species ratio was 19.7 (2.2 - 55.6) com-
pared to 7.7 (1.3 - 20.6) in the present
paper (Table 1). A closer look at each sepa-
rate sample shows comparable values to
the values found in this investigation ex-
cept those from Skálaijørður and Kald-
baksijørður which are much higher than
Fjord cntrance Deepest part of fjord Innermost part
SK01 SK05 SK07 SKl 1 SK13
Myriochele oculata 1 1 I 1 3
Paraonis. gracilis 2 5 5
Leptosynapta inhaerens 3
Ophiothrix fragilis 4
Rhodine gracilor 5
Heteromastes filiformis 2 4 2 4
Phoronis cf. psammopliila 3
Tliyasira Jlexuosa/gouldii 4 2 3 2
Goniada maculata 5
Abra nitida 3 4 1
Diplocirrus glaucus 5
Table 7. List of the 5 most abundant species from five stations in Skálafjord (Jørgensen, 1993)