FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 71, NO. 1 



of the feeding habits and sediment types inhab- 

 ited by epifaunal and infaunal benthic animals 

 (Craig and Jones, 1966), catastrophism in the 

 sea (Gunter, 1947; and others), position of 

 pelecypod shells in different environments (Em- 

 ery, 1968), burial of mollusk shells (Johnson, 

 1957), radiocarbon dating of relict oyster shells 

 (Merrill, Emery, and Rubin, 1965), and other 

 related subjects. Most of these studies are re- 

 stricted to one specific topic. The present study, 

 likewise, has a limited objective: to describe 

 the species composition and distribution of mac- 

 roscopic prefossil animal remains. 



Literature pertaining to present-day mollusk 

 remains in marine bottom deposits is relatively 

 common; see references in Habe (1956), 

 Schafer (1956), Johnson (1957), Belyaev 

 (1970) , and others. In contrast, however, a pau- 

 city of reports dealing with prefossil fish re- 

 mains became strikingly evident during our lit- 

 erature search. Research on this subject tends 

 to be regionally oriented. For example, the 

 study by Jensen (1905) deals with otoliths from 

 an Arctic basin. David (1947) and Soutar 

 (1967) described fish remains from ofl^ southern 

 California, and Belyaev and Glikman (1970) 

 describe selachian teeth from a broad expanse 

 of the Pacific Ocean. A major exception to this 

 regional basis is the report by Brongersma- 

 Sanders (1949), which summarizes the earlier 

 literature pertaining to fish remains (albeit 

 mostly fossil) from many parts of the world. 



Prefossil remains of marine organisms are 

 more easily obtained than are those of most ter- 

 restrial or aerial forms. Macrobenthic and nek- 

 tonic organisms are usually abundant on conti- 

 nental and insular shelves, and their skeletal 

 components are massive compared with those of 

 microplanktonic pelagic forms. As a result, the 

 "fossil assemblages" (Craig, 1953) of the conti- 

 nental shelf are dominated by macroscopic or- 

 ganisms, as opposed to planktonic forms that 

 make up the bulk of deep-sea fossils. Likewise, 

 the prefossil material of organic origin on con- 

 tinental and insular shelves is generally of a 

 larger size, and the macrofaunal components are 

 considerably more abundant than they are in 

 the deep sea. 



MATERIALS AND METHODS 



Samples were collected 11-20 June 1962, from 

 the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries (now the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service) RV Dela- 

 ware at 62 stations south of Martha's Vineyard, 

 Mass. (Table 1; Figure 1). Stations were 

 spaced at intervals of 16 km on a grid pattern 

 having eight north-south transects at right 

 angles to the depth contours. Quantitative bot- 

 tom samples, including sediments and the con- 

 stituent benthic fauna, were collected with a 

 Smith-Mclntyre grab sampler (Smith and Mc- 

 Intyre, 1954), This instrument effectively sam- 

 pled a 0.1-m- area of bottom to a depth of about 

 10 to 17 cm. The volume of bottom material 

 analyzed from individual samples averaged 8.9 

 liters. At sea, contents from the grab were 

 washed on a 1-mm mesh sieving screen. Ma- 

 terial remaining on the screen after washing 

 was removed and preserved in a solution of 

 neutral Formalin.' In the laboratory ashore. 



* Reference to trade names does not imply endorse- 

 ment by the National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 



4r 



-40* 



Figure 1. — Location of stations at which bottom samples 

 were collected for determining the distribution of the 

 remains of marine animals. Isobaths are indicated by 

 dashed lines. 



