A Photographic Survey of the Megafauna of the Central and Eastern Gulf of Maine

: During the summers of 1983 through 1985 the JOHNSON-SEA-LINK manned submersible systems were used to survey the mega fauna in the central and eastern Gulf of Maine. Quantitative 35 mm color photographs were taken at 29 stations, 5,714 photos were examined, and the megafauna identified. Eighteen taxa represented 96% of all the organisms counted. and of these 18 only 5 groups, from 2 phyla, were numerically dom inant. Ophiuroidea and Asteroidea were the domi nant echinoderms while Ceriantharia. Pennatula, and Bolocera were the dominant cnidarians. The relationship between sediment type and the mega fauna was also investigated. Again, relatively few taxa were important and these groups showed sub strate specificity. Pennatula occurred in a variety of substrates but were most abundant in silt (1.20 individuals m- 2). Ceriantharians were generally found in sandy substrates at densities as high as 1.12 m- 2• while Bolocera dominated on gravel but at much lower densities <0.017 m- 2). Scal lops. Placopecten. were restricted to gravelly sand, while pandalid shrimp occurred on the finer sands and mud, both at low densities (sO.04 m -2). Asteroidea covered almost the entire range of sub strates at low density, although they were more numerous on sands (max. = 0.16 m- 2) and gravels (max. = 0.17- 2). Ophiuroidea reachp.d their maximum density 0.23 m- 2) on slightly gravelly sand but also occurred at 2:1 m- 2 on gravelly mud. The only fish observed at 2:0.01 m- 2 were Lumpenus lumpretaeformis and Mer luccius bilinearis. both ofwhich were found on mud substrates.

[1]  R. Cooper,et al.  Ecology of ceriantharia (coelenterata, anthozoa) of the northwest Atlantic from Cape Hatteras to Nova Scotia , 1986 .

[2]  D. Campbell.  PROCESS VARIABILITY IN THE GULF OF MAINE—A MACROESTUARINE ENVIRONMENT , 1986 .

[3]  J. Witman,et al.  Disturbance and contrasting patterns of population structure in the brachiopod Terebratulina septentrionalis (Couthouy) from two subtidal habitats , 1983 .

[4]  A. Johnson,et al.  The macroinvertebrate fauna associated with five sand flats in the northern Gulf of Maine , 1983 .

[5]  Alan W. Hulbert.  Ecosystem definition and community structure of the macrobenthos of the NEMP monitoring station at Pigeon Hill in the Gulf of Maine , 1982 .

[6]  D. Franz,et al.  DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS OF COMMON SEASTARS OF THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC CONTINENTAL SHELF OF THE NORTHWEST ATLANTIC (GULF OF MAINE TO CAPE HATTERAS) , 1981 .

[7]  P. Larsen.  The shallow-water macrobenthos of a northern New England estuary , 1979 .

[8]  J. R. Sears,et al.  Descriptive ecology of offshore, deep-water, benthic algae in the temperate western North Atlantic Ocean , 1978 .

[9]  R. Haedrich,et al.  Quantitative Biological Assessment of the Benthic Fauna in Deep Basins of the Gulf of Maine , 1975 .

[10]  E. Uchupi.  Western North Atlantic Ocean: topography, rocks, structure, water, life, and sediments , 1972 .

[11]  R. L. Wigley,et al.  Biology of the Northern Shrimp, Pandalus borealis, in the Gulf of Maine , 1969 .

[12]  K. Emery,et al.  GEOLOGY AND BIOLOGY OF THE SEA FLOOR AS DEDUCED FROM SIMULTANEOUS PHOTOGRAPHS AND SAMPLES1 , 1965 .

[13]  G. Giese,et al.  THE AGE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROVINCELANDS HOOK, OUTER CAPE COD, MASSACHUSETTS1 , 1965 .

[14]  R. W. Hanks.  A BENTHIC COMMUNITY IN THE SHEEPSCOT RIVER ESTUARY, MAINEl , 1964 .

[15]  R. L. Wigley.  Note on the Distribution of Pandalidae (Crustacea, Decapoda) in New England Waters , 1960 .

[16]  H. Bigelow,et al.  NOTES ON THE FAUNA ABOVE MUD BOTTOMS IN DEEP WATER IN THE GULF OF MAINE , 1939 .

[17]  H. Bigelow.  Fishes of the Gulf of Maine , 1925 .