188 NOAA Technical Report NMFS 140 



-too 

 r iooo 



EXPLANATION 



□ 1-49 

 50-99 

 100-751 



INDIVIDUALS 

 PER SQUARE METER 



ECHINODERMATA 



Figure 202 

 Geographic distribution of Echinodermata: A — number of specimens per square 

 meter of bottom; B — biomass in grams per square meter of bottom. 



Maine area (Tables 6, 8; Fig. 209), where the average 

 density was nearly 8 individuals per/m 2 and the bio- 

 mass averaged more than 27 g/m 2 . The Georges Bank 

 area had the lowest average density, 0.2/m 2 , and an 

 average biomass of only 0.5 g/m 2 . The other four areas 

 had intermediate quantities. 



Holothurians accounted for a small proportion <>l 



the total number of specimens in all areas, but made up 



bstantial pan of the total weight in two areas (Table 



9). In the Gulf of Maine area they accounted for 22% of 

 the total fauna! weight and on the Southern New England 

 Slope the\ r made up 14% of the total fauna! weight. 



The occurrence of holothurians in the samples was 

 moderately low (17 to 40%) in all areas except Georges 

 Bank, where they were present in only 2% of the samples. 

 They were present in a slightly higher proportion of the 

 samples from the two slope areas than from the shelf 

 areas (Table 10). 



