Spatial Pattern of a Free-Living Marine Nematode Community off the Coast of Peru

The numerical abundance and biomass of free-living marine nematodes from sandy sediment off the coast of Peru (water depth 40 m) was similar to that reported from other areas. Dispersion chi-square analysis indicated that three species were aggregated, while the remaining species were randomly distributed throughout the samples. The most reasonable hypothesis is that variation in size of individual pore spaces is the mechanism controlling the distribution of the aggregated species.