DISTRIBUTION OF MACROSCOPIC REMAINS OF RECENT ANIMALS 

 FROM MARINE SEDIMENTS OFF MASSACHUSETTS 



Roland L. Wigley' and Frederick Charles Stinton" 



ABSTRACT 



Macroscopic animal remains are common constituents of bottom sediments on the conti- 

 nental shelf and upper continental slope south of Cape Cod, Mass. The largest quantities 

 are in sandy deposits in the vicinity of Nantucket Shoals, where they form nearly 30% 

 by volume of the total substrate. The smallest quantities are along the outer continental 

 shelf and upper slope, where animal remains generally make up less than 1% of the 

 substrate. Representatives of all three major realms of aquatic animals contribute to 

 the prefossil skeleton assemblages; benthic forms are the principal components, nek- 

 tonic forms are common, and planktonic forms are rare. The quantitatively dominant 

 taxonomic groups present in the sediments are: echinoderms, mollusks, and teleosts. 

 Typical specimens of all groups represented in the samples are illustrated. Charts 

 and graphs show the geographic and bathymetric distributions of the common species. 



Durable remains of recently (up to several 

 thousand years) deceased animals and plants 

 constitute an important, but frequently over- 

 looked, link between living organisms and their 

 fossils. Reconstruction of the marine environ- 

 ment that existed in past geological ages can be 

 better approximated when present-day marine 

 populations and processes are well understood. 

 A conventional approach used in paleobiological 

 investigations is to equate the habits, ecological 

 requirements, and functional morphology of fos- 

 sil species with their living relatives (Ladd, 

 1957; and others). Consequently, a thorough 

 knowledge of existing life is valuable to geologi- 

 cal advancement. Events during the transitional 

 phase between death and fossilization may 

 strongly influence the dispersal, shape, and as- 

 sociated species of fossil remains. Frequently 

 these events must be clearly understood to in- 

 terpret fossil findings correctly and completely. 

 It is in this context that the prefossil stage is 

 considered to be significant in determining the 

 history of life. 



A series of samples collected from the ocean 

 bottom off southeastern Massachusetts provide 



^ Northeast Fisheries Center. National Marine Fish- 

 eries Service, NOAA, Woods Hole, MA 02543. 

 - Bournemouth, Hants, England. 



an insight into the composition and the geo- 

 graphic distribution of macrobenthic, nektonic, 

 and planktonic animal skeletons — or portions 

 thereof — that occur in continental shelf bottom 

 sediments and that are available for fossiliza- 

 tion. Thus the purpose of this report is to de- 

 scribe qualitatively and quantitatively the mac- 

 roscopic animal remains (durable portions of 

 recently dead animals) in the bottom sediments 

 of this representative portion of the continental 

 shelf in New England. 



To avoid undue repetition of the words "dead," 

 "deceased," "remains," and similar descriptive 

 terms throughout this report, it must be empha- 

 sized at the outset that all samples of animal 

 materials dealt with in this report are the re- 

 mains of dead animals. Accounts of the living 

 organisms obtained in these collections will be 

 dealt with in other reports. 



Previous studies of paleontological interest 

 pertaining to prefossil marine animal remains 

 are very diverse in subject. A few examples 

 of these studies include such dissimilar topics as: 

 the composition and distribution of mollusk 

 shell rem.ains (Habe, 1956; and others), bio- 

 logical alteration of bottom sediments (Schafer, 

 1956; Rhoads, 1966; and others), comparison 



Manuscript accepted May 1972. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 71, NO. 1, 1973. 



