Invertebrate megabenthos and fish at three Arctic seamounts at the Langseth Ridge

During RV Polarstern cruise PS101 to the central Arctic Ocean (chief scientist: Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius) in 2016, high-resolution digital images were taken with a towed “Ocean Floor Observation and Bathymetry System” (OFOBS) at the Central Mount, the Karasik Seamount, and the Northern Mount at the Langseth Ridge. During four OFOBS deployments (two deployments at the Central Mount, one deployment at the Karasik Mount, one deployment at the Northern Mount) in total 3,162 images of the seafloor were taken every 20 sec. at 1.5 to 2.5 m above the seafloor. For the image analysis, 2,099 images of high quality were loaded into the software “Program for Annotation of Photographs and Rapid Analysis (of Zillions and Zillions) of Images” (PAPARA(ZZ)I) and annotated. Invertebrate megabenthos (>1 cm) and fish were identified based on images and sponge taxa had been confirmed by sponge spicule analysis of several collected specimens.