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FILTER-FEEDING ECOSYSTEMS Three of the banks, Wicked, Sneezy and South, were shown to form a group which is quite distinct from the light dependent Halimeda and coral dominated communities common to other banks of the Big Bank Shoals. Wicked and Sneezy are surrounded by Halimeda dominated banks close to the edge of the Timor Trough. However, their plateaux are too deep for photosynthesis dependent organisms, such as Halimeda and hard corals, to thrive. South Bank, the third member of this group, is a large bank located approximately 100 km landward on the shallower Continental Shelf. Although water depths are shallow enough to sustain light dependent corals, and the bank is dominated by macro-algae, Halimeda is absent. Although the lack of Halimeda is a common feature of these three banks, it is the similarities in the structure and function of their benthic fauna that form the primary linking factor between them. South Bank is distinctly larger and has a more complex benthic ecosystem than Wicked or Sneezy. The common link between this and the other two banks is a benthic fauna dominated by a diverse assemblage of filter-feeders. These fauna are heterotrophic and extract their food from the surrounding waters. A mixture of sponges and soft corals, such as gorgonians, were observed on these banks. The following section outlines the general biology and ecology of these key filter-feeding groups, followed by the survey results from the three banks, which share them as a common feature.
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