Bering Strait and Kilesnov to the Straits of Georgia, B.C., in the 

 Arctic Ocean from Siberia to Point Barrow, at 0-400 m (Squires 

 1970). Squires (1969) reported this specie.s from one shallow water 

 station in the western Canadian Arctic (Franklin Bay). 



Argis lar was present in four trawls west of Barrow, in 40-50 m. 

 Carapace lengths were 12-20 mm. No ovigerous females were 

 present. Carey (1977) reported /I. lar from north of Camden Bay. It 

 occurs from the arctic coast of Alaska and Siberia southward to 

 Sitka and the Kuril Islands, and off Greenland, in 0-90 m (Rathbun 

 1904). Only two specimens of Argis denlata were identified. No 

 further information is available on those specimens. 



Cmngon communis was identified from three trawls, all west of 

 Prudhoe Bay, in 40-50 m. Range of carapace lengths was 10-13 

 mm. No ovigerous individuals were present. A single specimen of 

 C. communis was taken by MacGinitie in 1949 (MacGinitie 1955). 

 That was the first report of this species north of Bering Strait. 

 Rathbun (1904) reported C. communis from the Bering Sea to San 

 Diego. Calif., at 40-600 m. 



Aniphipods.— Gammarid amphipods are prey of many demersal 

 fishes, seabirds, Arctic cod, ringed and bearded seals, and bow- 

 head whales, Balaena mysticetus (Lowry et al. 1979). They 

 occurred in 34 trawls, but seldom made up more than 2% of the 

 total trawl biomass. Fifteen families and 34 species were identified. 

 The families Lysianassidae and Ampeliscidae were represented by 

 the greatest number of species, eight and five, respectively. Most 

 species occurred at 1-3 stations. Seven including Ampelisca 

 eschrichti, Acamhostepheia behringiensis . Rhacolropis aculecila, 

 Anonyx nugax, Socarnes bidentata. Slegocepluila inflalus, and Ste- 

 gocephalopsis ampulla occurred at more than 10. Only Rhacolro- 

 pis aculeata showed any obvious geographic variation in 

 abundance; it was by far more numerous between Point Barrow and 

 Pmdhoe Bay than elsewhere. 



Gastropods.— Snails are a regular prey item of bearded seals and 

 walruses (Odobenus rosmarus) (Fay et al. 1977; Lowry et al. 

 1979). Thirteen families and 49 species were identified from our 

 trawls. The families Buccinidae and Neptunidae were represented 

 by the greatest number of species. 



Margariics cosialis occurred at all but six stations. It was the 

 most numerous snail in the trawl survey. 



Seven species of Buccinum occurred in the trawls. Buccinum 

 polare and B. scaliforme were most numerous. Buccinid snails 

 were in general more abundant west of Prudhoe Bay. 



Ten species of the family Neptunidae occurred in the trawls. 

 Snails of the genus Colus were most common, especially east of 

 Prudhoe Bay. The genera Plicifusus and Neptunea were present 

 mainly west of Prudhoe Bay. 



East-west distributional patterns were indicated for several other 

 species and genera. Natica clausa was found only west of Prudhoe 

 Bay, and 9 of 10 tows in which Polinices pallida occurred were 

 west of Prudhoe Bay. Admeie couthouyi and two species of the 

 genus Tricholropsis were present only west of Point Barrow. 



Three species of the genus Trophonopsis (Boreotrophon) were 

 represented in the trawls. Although these species occurred both east 

 and west of Point Barrow, most specimens were caught east of 

 Prudhoe Bay. 



Bivalves.— Bivalve molluscs are generally abundant and diverse 

 in the benthos. Carey (1977) listed 85 species in his arctic species 

 list. Bivalves are a major food of walruses and bearded seals 

 (Lowry etal. 1979). 



Twenty-five species belonging to 12 families were identified 

 from our trawls. Only seven species occurred in more than five 

 trawls. The small transparent scallop Delectopecten groenlandicus 

 was by far the most abundant species, although it was found only 

 east of long. I50°W. It was abundant where it was present. 



A small, chalky, heavy-shelled species. Balhyarca glacialis, was 

 the second most numerous bivalve. It was caught only east of 

 Pradhoe Bay and was patchy in occurrence. 



Nuculana pernula occurred only east of the Prudhoe Bay area. Its 

 occurrence coincided closely with that of B. glacialis and D. 

 groenlandicus. 



Cyclocardia crassidens was present throughout the area sam- 

 pled, as was Nucula tenuis. Two species of Astarte were common. 

 Astarie monlegui was present in greatest numbers west of Prudhoe 

 Bay whereas A . crenata was most numerous east of Prudhoe Bay. 



Polychaetes.— Polychaetes are a major component of Beaufort 

 Sea infauna (Carey 1977). They were also a regular component of 

 the epifauna. Most specimens we collected were fragmented and in 

 very poor condition. Nonetheless, 15 families and 27 species were 

 identified. The scaleworms. Family Polynoidae, were the most 

 widespread and numerous, occurring in 24 trawls. Three species, 

 Antinoella sarsi, Eunoe nodosa, and Gattyana cirrosa, were most 

 common. 



Only two other species occurred at more than five stations. Those 

 were Nereis zonata, most numerous west of Prudhoe Bay, and 

 Brada granulata. present in all areas. 



Echinoderms.— Echinoderms were by far the most abundant 

 invertebrates in the western Beaufort and northeastern Chukchi 

 Seas. We found 27 species: 15 asteroids, 7 ophiuroids, I echinoid, 

 1 crinoid, and 3 holothuroids. 



Ophiuroids were most abundant but least diverse west of long. 

 154°W. Opbiura sarsi was the only species identified. East of long. 

 I54°W numbers of ophiuroids decreased but at least six species 

 occurred. Ophiacantha bidentata was the most common. 



The sea urchin, Stronglyocentrotus droebachiensis. was present 

 at rocky stations and absent from all muddy stations. It occurred in 

 14 trawls in relatively low numbers (usually fewer than 10/trawl). 



Heliametra glacialis. a crinoid, was the dominant organism at 8 

 of 15 stations east of Prudhoe Bay. It was abundant at most of the 

 other eastern .stations, but did not occur at all west of Point Barrow. 



Sea cucumbers were extremely numerous and widespread. Cucu- 

 niaria sp. was present at 17 stations and Psolus sp. at 16. The two 

 species often cooccurred. 



Sea stars were the most diverse of the echinoderms, though never 

 so abundant as other groups. Crossaster papposus and Leptasterias 

 griK'idundicus were the most common, each occurring in more than 

 20 trawls. The average number of species per trawl increased from 

 1 .4 in the west to 3.7 in the east. The maximum number of species 

 per trawl west of Point Barrow was three whereas east of Prudhoe 

 Bay it was seven. This difference may be related to the increased 

 number of small bivalves in the eastern area. 



Other groups.— Sponges, anemones, flatworms. nemerteans, 

 bryozoans, and tunicates were present in many trawls. The taxon- 

 omy of many of these groups is pooriy known for arctic waters and 

 thus the species lists presented in this report are incomplete. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



Logistic support for this study was provided by the USCGC Gla- 

 cier. We thank the many crew members who devoted their off-duty 



