The Ecology and Biogeography of Heard Island Marine Benthos

Collections of 23 macroinvertebrate taxa associated with Durvillaea antarctica holdfasts and 58 invertebrate taxa associated with artificial substrata collectors are described from shallow-water and intertidal habitats at Heard Island. The fauna sampled possessed strong biogeographic affinities with the Kerguelen Island fauna and, to a slightly lesser extent, the fauna recorded at Macquarie Island. The fauna possessed negligible affinity with the Antarctic. Experiments involving the offshore tethering of Durvillaea antarctica holdfasts indicated epifaunal invertebrates rapidly abandoned detached holdfasts, but that the few species surviving after one day can probably survive long periods adrift. The fields in this dataset are:Taxon (species)DistributionLocalityDateControl