The Marine Sublittoral Fauna of Jan Mayen Island Zoogeography and Succession on "New" Lava Grounds

A volcanic eruption at Jan Mayen in 1970 created "new" submarine lava grounds. This incident initiated spatial and temporal studies of the marine sublittoral fauna in 1972, 1978, 1994 and 1999. The spatial inventories indicate that Jan Mayen Island in zoogeographical terms has not a unique and endemic benthic fauna. The fauna is generally an impoverished fauna of that found at the Norwegian coast and Svalbard. The studies of colonisation and succession of the "new" grounds indicate that the time needed to reach a successional stage (climax-stage) similar to that recorded on similar substrates at the same depth (deeper than about 15m) elsewhere at the island is a process which needs at least 30 years, and probably much longer time.