Habitat variability and faunal zonation at the Ægir Ridge, a canyon-like structure in the deep Norwegian Sea.

The Ægir Ridge System (ARS) is an ancient extinct spreading axis in the Nordic seas extending from the upper slope east of Iceland (∼550 m depth), as part of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), to a depth of ∼3,800 m in the Norwegian basin. Geomorphologically a rift valley, the ARS has a canyon-like structure that may promote increased diversity and faunal density. The main objective of this study was to characterize benthic habitats and related macro- and megabenthic communities along the ARS, and the influence of water mass variables and depth on them.