Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1999, Page 196

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CUMACEA (CRUSTACEA) OF THE FAROEISLAND REGION
In many areas of the world cumaceans have
been one of the least studied groups, even
though they are sometimes quite abundant.
The region around the Faroe Islands is no
exception. Until the report by Hansen
(1920) on the Cumacea of the Ingolf Expe-
dition, no cumaceans had been identified
from the Faroe Islands and their environs.
Hansen’s cumacean records included 25
species. With the single exception of a
species collected in the harbor at Tórshavn,
all of Hansen’s cumaceans were collected
at four deep-sea stations, either by the
“Thor” or the “Ingolf’. Of those, most are
from the relatively warmer waters found
south of the islands. Consequently, even
after Hansen’s study, the cumaceans of the
Faroes could not be said to be well known.
A later list by Stephensen (1929) added
three shallow water species. Representa-
tives of each family of cumaceans present
around the Faroes are depicted in Fig. 1.
The extensive sampling of the Faroes area
as a result of the BioFar Program (Investi-
gations of the Marine Benthic Fauna of the
Faroes Area) has produced a wealth of
cumacean material. Of the 600 localities
sampled, 146 produced 62 cumacean
species. Forty-eight of those samples were
taken by Rothlisberg-Piercy hyperbenthic
sledge, 84 by detritus sledge, 6 by triangle
dredge, 4 by Smith-Mclntyre grab, 2 by an-
chor dredge, and 2 by quadrangular dredge.
As a result of the BioFar sampling,
Hansen’s species list has been substantially
increased so that the cumacean fauna of the
Faroes now stands at 70 species.
Results
The following list of species encompasses
all cumaceans taken in the Faroes region,
including the earlier records of Hansen.
For each species, synonyms are given
where appropriate, at least one reference
containing a good description of the species
is listed, any previous records in the Faroes
area are noted, the BioFar stations where
thespecies was collected are listed, and var-
ious details regarding depth and tempera-
ture conditions at sites where the species
has been found are given. These categories
follow the listing of mysids from the Faroes
area by Brattegard and Meland (1997). All
data on water masses are taken from the re-
port of Westerberg (1990), also summa-
rized succinctly by Brattegard and Meland
(1997), among others. The abbreviations
used by Westerberg (1990) for the water
masses are used in the species list. Atlantic
water (>7°C) is abbreviated AW, Arctic In-
termediate Water (1.5-3.5°C) is abbreviat-
ed AI, and Norwegian Sea water (<0°C) is
abbreviated NW. When the abbreviations
for water masses are separated by a 7’, this
indicates mixed waters (for example,
AW/AI indicates a mixed water mass, with
a temperature of 3.5-7°C).