A baseline assessment of deep-sea biodiversity, and guide for future actions to inform stewardship, in Trinidad and Tobago

Jaime-Leigh Lue Chin, Muriel Rabone, Juliano Palacios-Abrantes, Judith Gobin, Alana Jute, La Daana K. Kanhai, and Diva J. Amon

The University of the West Indies; Natural History Museum, London; The University of British Columbia; Institute of Marine Affairs; University of California, Santa Barbara; SpeSeas

The study provides the first systematic assessment of deep-sea biodiversity knowledge in Trinidad and Tobago. It compiles records from scientific literature, museum collections, research expeditions, and biodiversity databases. The authors report 1,342 unique biological records representing 451 metazoan morphospecies in 218 families across ten phyla. Major gaps remain, especially below 2,049 metres, while fewer than 9% of physical samples are estimated to remain in-country.