Temporal, Spatial, and Seasonal Analysis of the Eucopidae Assemblage in the Gulf of Mexico

In April 2010, a massive and unprecedented oil spill occurred at a depth of 1,480 m in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM). This anthropogenic disaster, known as the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (DWHOS), affected multiple ecosystems throughout the GOM, including deep-sea crustacean assemblages (Sutton et al., 2020). The crustacean family Eucopidae is a critical component of global deep-sea ecosystems and represents the fifth most abundant pelagic crustacean family in the GOM (Burdett et al., 2017). Despite its ecological importance, Eucopidae remains understudied in the region. This study examined temporal trends, seasonal variability, habitat associations, depth distributions, and diel vertical migration patterns of Eucopia species in the northern GOM. Results revealed significant species-specific initial temporal declines and varied levels of potential recovery, strong seasonal effects, and intriguing depth niche partitioning. Proportional depth redistribution analyses indicated that vertical migration behavior existed in just one of the three study species