154 



U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETEST 291 



D 

 E 



P 

 T 

 H, 



1500 



Figure 54. — Vertical sections, Gulf of Guinea: a, temperature °C; b, salinity°/c 

 points of Bathytetdhis abyssicola. 



Capture 



Water and North Atlantic Upper Deep Water (fig. 51). The few 

 captures that come from the western Atlantic were made at relatively 

 high oxygen concentrations (3.5-6 ml/L) below the oxygen minimum 

 layer. In the eastern Atlantic the oxygen minimum values are 1 to 2 

 ml/L lower than in the western North Atlantic ; several captures were 

 made in the oxygen minimum layer and the remainder were below 

 the minimum at concentrations ranging from 3.5 ml/L to greater than 

 5.0 ml/L (figs. 57, 58). Capture points have been plotted on a vertical 

 section of PO4 concentration through the central Atlantic (fig. 59) ; 

 the plots are clustered in the layers of phosphate maxima between 20 °S 

 and 15°N. Most points lie in the maximum values of 1.5-2.0 microgram 

 atoms/liter. Deeper specimens in the South Atlantic and the North 

 Atlantic specimens occur at values below 1.0 microgram atoms/liter. 



Mediterranean Sea 



B. abyssicola is excluded from the Mediterranean Sea by a number 

 of factors : the depth of the sill across the Straits of Gibraltar is only 

 320 m; the strong current that flows out over the sill into the Atlantic 

 consists of water of 13° C and of greater than 37.00%o; within the 

 Mediterranean Basin the temperature, even in the deep water masses, 

 remains at 13° and the salinity in deep water approaches 38.40%o 

 (Sverdrup et al., 1942). Captures of Bathyteuthh in less than 500 m 



