28 



MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



Fig. 10. A comparison of average temperatures with fluctuations in a selected representative year 

 at Diamond Shoal and Five-Fathom Bank. Adapted from Parr (1933). 



Figure 1 1 , which compares the lighthouse and the lightship temperatures off 

 Cape Lookout, for an example of this). 



These temperature gradients suggest that non-migratory organisms that 

 require year-around warm waters might be missing along the coast from 

 northern Florida to southern North Carolina, yet be present around Hatteras 

 and offshore to the southwest of Hatteras to the extent that their other 

 ecological needs are met at increasing depths. This would result in a coastal 

 skip distribution from south of Cape Canaveral to the region of Cape 

 Hatteras. 



Other non-migratory forms that tolerate moderate winter cooling but not 

 the extremes found off the Middle Atlantic States might have a continuous 



