Description and assessment of neuston 1 communities present in the South Indian Ocean

Abstract

Animal communities living at the sea-surface are relatively poorly known, despite the fact that this biotope is globally distributed, it acts as an important nursery area for many commercially important taxa and supports significant amounts of anthropogenic waste. This lack of knowledge applies particularly to the Indian Ocean. Here, I describe the structure of non-copepod neuston assemblages across the Southern Indian Ocean Gyre using samples collected between 26 June – 16 July 2015 from 35 stations along a transect line at 20° S. Neuston was sampled using triplicated manta trawls at each station, while environmental parameters were assessed using a CDT. All non-copepod neuston were identified to morphospecies, with the exception of siphonophores, which were identified to species.