A SURVEY OF THE MACROBENTHOS IN THE GULF OF MAINE 

 USING MANNED SUBMERSIBLES 



Richard W. Langton 

 Maine Department of Marine Resources 

 Marine Resources Laboratory 

 West Boothbay Harbor, Maine U.S.A. 04575 



Joseph R. Uzmann 

 Northeast Fisheries Center 

 Woods Hole, MA, U.S.A. 02543 



ABSTRACT 



During the summers of 1983 through 1985 the Johnson Sea Link 

 manned submersible systems were utilized to survey the macroben- 

 thic fauna in the Gulf of Maine. Quantitative 35 mm color photo- 

 graphs were taken at 29 stations and 5714 photos were analyzed. 

 A total of 47 catagories of macrobenthic organisms were routinely 

 identified in the photographs. Eighteen taxa represented 96% of 

 all the organisms counted, and of these 18 only five groups, from 

 two phyla, were dominant. Ophiuroids and asteroid starfish were 

 the dominant echinoderms while cerianthid anemones, pennatulids 

 and Bolocera anemones were the dominant cnidarians. The 

 relationship between sediment type and the macrobenthos was also 

 investigated. Again, relatively few species groups were 

 numerically important and these groups showed a reasonable level 

 of substrate specificity. Pennatulids occurred on a variety of 

 substrates but were most abundant on clayey-silt. Cerianthid 

 anemones were found in sandy substrates while Bolocera dominated 

 in gravel. Pandalid shrimp occurred on sandy-silt while 

 scallops were generally restricted to sand. Asteroid starfish 

 covered a range of coarser substrates and ophiuroids were 

 dominant on silts and clays. The only fish observed in any 

 quantity were silver hake and these were often seen resting on 

 the bottom on silty-sand and finer sediments. 



INTRODUCTION 



The Gulf of Maine has been described as an epicontinental 

 sea or macroestuary extending from Massachusetts to Nova Scotia 

 (Uchupi 1965, 1966; Emery and Uchupi 1972; Campbell 1986). It 

 has its origins in the last glacial period, 11,000 BP, having 

 been shaped by both fluvial and glacial erosion (Emery et al . 

 1965; Ziegler et al . 1965). The resulting uneven topography and 

 mixture of sediments offer a variety of habitats for the 

 establishment of benthic organisms, of both commercial and 

 noncommercial value (Rich 1929; Emery et al . 1965). The 

 distribution and abundance of commercial species have been 

 studied over the years (e.g., Bigelow and Schroeder 1939, 1953) 



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