Deep-sea biodiversity at the extremes of the Salas y Gómez and Nazca ridges with implications for conservation

MaxN was highest in Desventuradas soft bottom habitats and lowest in RN/SyG soft bottom habitats. Fish assemblage structure was significantly different between subregions (PERMANOVA pseudo-F1,43 = 2.482, p = 0.022) but not between habitats (PERMANOVA pseudo-F1,43 = 1.431, p = 0.184) or their interaction (PERMANOVA pseudo-F1,43 = 1.974, p = 0.059). The average dissimilarity between subregions was 91.01%. Squalidae accounted for the greatest dis- similarity between subregions (18.27%), with abundances at Desventuradas (�X= 2.26 ± 2.49) an order of magnitude greater than at RN/SyG (�X = 0.21 ± 0.54) (Table 2). Moridae accounted for an additional 7.98% of the dissimilarity between subregions, with abundances at Desven- turadas (�X= 0.63 ± 1.04) 42% higher than at RN/SyG (�X = 0.26 ± 0.56). Abundances of Fig 5. Vulnerable marine ecosystem indicator taxa, including deep-sea corals and sponges, observed on deep-sea camera deployments along the Salas y Go´mez and Nazca ridges. (A) Sala y Go´mez—552 m (B) Desventuradas– 1,714 m. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253213.g005 PLOS ONE Deep-sea biodiversity along the Salas y Go´ mez and Nazca ridges PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253213 June 30, 2021 12 / 27