Two species of the echinoid genus
Sterechinus were documented from 92 trawl stations and 55 photographic stations in the eastern and southern Weddell Sea between 100 and 1200 m water depth. We found two species occuring along the whole shelf and slope,
S. neumayeri being more abundant above 450 m water depth and
S. antarcticus dominating the deeper regions. The size-frequency distributions of both species indicate differences in growth, mortality and longevity. First estimates of abundance and biomass of
S. neumayeri and
S. antarcticus are 0.085 ind/m
2 & 0.005 gAFDW/m
2 and 0.022 ind/m
2 & 0.005 gAFDW/m
2, respectively.
AWI Publication No. 392