Sublittoral soft bottom communities and diversity of Mejillones Bay in northern Chile (Humboldt Current upwelling system)

Table 4 Percentages of different mayor groups contributing to the total biomass at different areas of Mejillones Bay from three different studies

Molluscs (%)	Polychaetes (%)	Crustaceans (%)	Other invertebrates (%)	Total biomass (g m⁻²)	Area depth, sediment	Reference
82.6	2.8	2.1	12.5	890.2	6 m fine sand	Ramorino and Muñiz (1970)
90.0	5.6	4.3	0.1	396	3–130 m fine sand	Zúñiga et al. (1983)
98.5 (59.5)	0.1 (1.7)	1.2 (32.1)	0.2 (6.7)	73 (72)	5 m fine sand	This study
98.5 (83.6)	0.2 (2.4)	0.3 (3.3)	1.0 (10.7)	1,519 (474)	10 m fine sand	This study
98.5 (96.0)	0.5 (1.4)	0.4 (1.0)	0.6 (1.6)	1,304 (496)	20 m fine sand	This study

Values of the present study are provided with (and without) the dominating bivalve Aulacomya ater. Biomass in g m⁻² ethanol wet mass in the case of the two former studies, and formalin wet mass (this study)

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