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FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



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AIR TEMPERATURE°F 



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Figure U. — The relation between New Haven, Conn., air temperatures and Boothlaay Harbor, Maine, surface water 



temperatures for the month of January, 1906-49. 



Table 2. — Comparison of mean monthhj water and air 

 temperatures at Eastport, Maine, for the periods 1878-87 

 and 1941-50 



[Temperatures in °F.) 



Month 



January... 

 February.. 



March 



April 



May 



June 



July 



Aupust 



September 

 October. . . 

 November. 

 December- 

 Mean. 



Difler- 

 ence 



-1-0.82 

 -1-0.60 

 -1-0.72 

 -1-0.19 

 4-0.07 

 -f-0. 14 

 -1-0.34 

 -1-0.80 

 -1-1.02 

 -fl.05 

 -1-1.49 

 -1-1.54 



-1-0.74 



TEMPERATURE TRENDS IN OFFSHORE 

 WATERS OF GULF OF MAINE 



Except for an initial pelagic period common to 

 most marine fish, the more-important commercial 

 species spend the larger part of their existence on 



the sea bottom, and most pelagic species are found 

 at some time or otlier throughout the water 

 column. If the trends shown in air temperatures 

 and sea surface temperatures are superficial 

 phenomena producing no important changes in 

 the depths where the various species are foimd, 

 any changes in distribution and abundance of 

 species inhabiting these depths must be ascribed 

 to causes other than temperature changes. In 

 the following sections, hydrographic data collected 

 at various Gulf of Maine stations between 1912 

 and 1954 are examined. 



GULF OF MAINE TEMPERATURES, 1912-26 



The observations recorded during the cruises 

 of 1912 to 1926 (Bigelow 1927, pp. 522-701 and 

 tables, pp. 978-1014) provide the only detailed 

 information that has yet been published on the 

 temperature of the offshore parts of the Gulf of 

 Maine at diff'erent seasons and depths. These 

 observations, therefore, must serve as the basis 



