136 



NOAA Technical Report NMFS 140 



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Figure 128 

 Density and biomass of Scaphopoda in relation to sediment organic carbon. 



illecebrosus, and Loligo pealei, are well documented (Vovk, 

 1969; Tibbets, 1977; Lange, 1979, 1982; Wigley, 1982; 

 Murray and Wigley 14 and others) in the fisheries litera- 

 ture but are not represented in our grab samples. Nau- 

 tili and cuttlefish, two other orders of cephalopods that 

 are wholly pelagic, are extremely rare in this region, 

 which leaves only members of the order Octopoda, the 

 octopi, which are almost wholly benthic in habit, and 

 the smaller and more sedentary squids available to quan- 

 titative grab samplers. Thus the representation of cepha- 

 lopods in our collections does not accurately characterize 

 this portion of the molluscan fauna. 



Our samples, 5 representing 0.5% of the total, con- 

 tained a total of 376 individual cephalopods from 2 

 genera, Octopus sp. and Rossiasp. (Table 5). Their mean 

 density was 0.4/m 2 , and biomass averaged 0.01 g/m 2 . 



u Murray, H. E., and R. L. Wigley. 1968. Squid catches on three 

 cruises of Albatross IV: cruise 63-5. July-August 1963; cruise 63-7, 

 November-December 1963; cruise 64-1, January-February 1964. 

 Bur. Comm. Fish. Biol. Lab., Woods Hole. Massachusetts Lab. Ref 

 68-12, 16 p. Unpubl. manuscript. 



Geograph ic Dis trib ution 



Cephalopods that were sampled occurred in low to 

 moderate quantities (1 to 40 individuals/m , and <0.1 

 to 0.5 g/m 2 ) primarily along the offshore fringes of the 

 study area at the shelf break and deeper from the 

 northeast peak of Georges Bank westerly to south of 

 Nantucket Shoals (Fig. 129). One inshore area, on the 

 eastern Nova Scotian shelf, also yielded specimens of 

 cephalopods. 



Cephalopods occurred in all standard geographic 

 areas but the Gulf of Maine in small quantities; mean 

 densities ranged from <0.1 to only 1 individual/m 2 , and 

 mean biomass ranged from <0.01 to 0.01 g/m 2 (Tables 

 6, 8; Fig. 130). 



Frequency of occurrence in the subareas was also low 

 with <1 to only 2% of the samples containing specimens 

 (Table 10). 



Bathymetric Distribution 



Cephalopods were taken at depths ranging from 114 to 



320 m, placing them in two of our standard depth 



