28 



NOAA Technical Report NMFS 140 



Total Macrobenthos 

 Groups Combined _ 



All Taxonomic 



Geographic Distribution 



Macrobenthic invertebrates showed clear geographic 

 trends in abundant e ( Fig. 12). Both density and biom- 

 ass of organisms exhibited similar patterns. Densitv was 

 generally highest (1,000 to 15,000/m 2 ) in the coastal 

 regions of the (it ill of Maine, on ( leorges Bank, and on 



most of the continental shelf region off Southern New 

 England. Densitv was generally low (less than 100 indi- 

 viduals/m 2 ) over most of the continental rise, and mod- 

 erately low (100 to 1,000/m 2 ) in the central Gulf of 

 Maine, on the southeastern Scotian Shelf area, and 

 along the continental slope. The distribution ofbiom- 

 ass was similar to that for density. High biomass ( 100 to 

 3,400 g/m' J ) was distributed around the periphery of 

 the Gulf of Maine, on Georges Bank, on most of the 

 continental shelf off Southern New England, and in 



