EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 



Distribution plots taken from spring and fall cruise data show tnat many 

 of the more important finfish species found in the Mid-Atlantic 8ight from 

 Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras are not endemic out are seasonal migrants. Because 

 of the absence of a discrete endemic fish fauna zoogeographers have been 

 hesitant to recognize the Mid-Atlantic Bight as a separate faunal province 

 (Hazel 1970, Briggs 1974). However, several species whose distributions have 

 been summarized in this report do have their centers of abundance in the Bight 

 (e.g., summer flounder, windowpane, fourspot flounder, scup). Most 

 individuals in these populations do not leave the Mid-Atlantic Bight, but 

 migrate seasonally and concentrate in narrow bands along the margins of the 

 area. For example, summer flounder concentrate in the inshore areas in 

 summer, but miyrate offshore and concentrate on the outer-shelf in the 

 winter. Many of the other species (e.g., bluefish, Atlantic herring, Atlantic 

 mackerel) undergo such extensive seasonal movements that they virtually 

 disappear from the studied area during our spring and autumn cruises. 



One reason for these dramatic migratory patterns of Mid-Atlantic finfish 

 as well as the squids and lobsters is the seasonal change in water 

 temperature. In the inshore waters of the New York Bight apex, surface 

 temperatures range from a maximum of 26°C in summer to a minimum of 1°C in 

 winter. Bottom temperatures in the same inshore areas range from 21°C in 

 summer to less than 1°C in winter (Bowman and Wunderlich 1977). This range of 

 bottom temperature maxima and minima diminishes in a seaward direction to 

 about 7°C (winter) and 13°C (summer) near the edge of the shelf. These large 

 fluctuations in temperature undoubtedly play a significant role in the 

 developed migratory patterns of many of the species discussed. With warming 



VII 



