Brachiopod communities
Map ID Number: Not mapped during the workshop
Location: Brachiopod communities are widespread in New Zealand from shallow depths to beyond 2000m.
Approximate area: Not recorded during the workshop
Description of habitat type:
Brachiopods are usually attached to hard substrates, such as rock, other brachiopods, and dead shells, although one species (Neothyris) is free-living as an adult.
Biological attributes:
Brachiopods are sessile suspension feeders that range in size from less than 1mm to 50mm. They are solitary animals, and are probably long-lived. They are abundant in the New Zealand fossil record. In fact, the brachiopod record for the past 40 million years is the best in the world. There are several other reasons why New Zealand brachiopods are particularly significant in a global context. New Zealand has high brachiopod diversity and richness, a high proportion of brachiopod species are found in shallow water (intertidal less than 20m), and brachiopods account for a large portion of the biomass in many areas. For example, they are a dominant or conspicuous member of the benthic communities in the fiords, the Marlborough Sounds, Paterson Inlet on Stewart Island, and in patches on the Otago Shelf and subtidal eastern Northland.
Criteria applied:
Species diversity; species richness; unusual degree/proportion of biomass; relict/genetic lineage; endemism; special phylogenetic grouping.
Status and management:
Brachiopods are not protected as a species, but communities of brachiopods are included within marine reserves such as Poor Knights, Long Island, Milford Sound, and Doubtful Sound.
State of information:
Not recorded during the workshop
References and further reading:
Grange et al. (1981), Richardson (1981a, 1981b, 1981c), Stewart (1981), Willan (1981).