Survey of benthic animals in the Kumano Sea by training/research vessel Seisui-maru

Abstract

The Kumano Sea has wide-range depths and various environments of the deep seafloor. Inventory of benthic animals is poorly known around the sea because there were few research cruises or investigations in this area. In this situation, training/research vessel (T/RV) Seisui-maru that belongs to Mie University plays a role of center of excellence for investigation of marine science around the Kumano Sea. The vessel has the ability to operate various kinds of research equipment for the benthos survey and conducts many training cruises. Recently, the last author has held annual training/research cruises in the Kumano Sea from 2009 to 2019. Over 16 phyla were recorded, and some of the new species were described based on specimens collected during the cruises. In this paper, we provide an introduction of Seisui-maru, a summary of benthos research at the Kumano Sea, and brief records of polychaetes collected during the cruise in 2017.