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and 5-6 cm. Samples from all layers were put in 0.2- and 0.5-l bottles, and
fixed with 10% formalin.
After about three weeks, all meiofauna samples were washed with
fresh water to remove formalin and seawater, and fixed with 80% ethyl
alcohol. Rose bengal was added to each sample to stain the animals. All
meiofauna samples were packed and transferred to the laboratory for
further sorting and analysis.
In the laboratory, samples were sorted and benthic meiofauna were
counted and identified to higher taxa -- class, order and family. Specimens
of one taxon from each sample were transferred to 20-ml vials and stored
as collection material for future investigation and species identification.
Our results show that the number of meiofauna varied from 1,540
to 22,365 ind/0.25 m², but compared to the meiofauna seven years after
the disturbance, the mean meiofauna number in the track zone was a little
higher than in the resedimentation and reference areas (14,210, 12,425
and 10,605 ind/m², respectively).
3.3. Megafauna
Photo profiles were used to assess megafauna numbers, taxonomy
and distribution.
Deep-sea photographs were taken using a unique underwater
apparatus called "Neptun", designed at Yuzhmorgeologia. Using the Neptun
we can make photo and video surveys simultaneously. Neptun consists of a
metal frame mounted with a photographic camera, video camera, flash
lamp, constant lamp, echo sounder and electronic block. The apparatus
was towed at about 3 m above the bottom, using a cable wire and a videocamera
bottom picture. Ship speed during the towing was 1-1.2 knots.
The photo camera was triggered automatically whenever two events
coincided – the end of a 10-15 s interval for charging the flash and echosounder
data registering a distance of 300 plus or minus 20 cm off the
bottom. These two conditions produced a random distribution of images for
the photo profile -- very important for statistical data processing. Intervals
between frames were from 10 s to 1 min, with most between 17 and 20 s.
Depending on distance to the bottom, the squares covered in the
photographs ranged from 3.8-4.4 m² (example in figure 1). Together with
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