5 r 



o 



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© WEST 

 A CENTRAL 

 (E EAST 



Table 1. --Mann-Whitney one-tailed test (U) 

 values for comparing zooplankton volumes of 

 main coastal areas, 1964- 



Figure 2. --Mean zooplankton volumes by area and season. 

 Gulf of Maine coastal waters, 1964. Locations of the 

 areas are shown In figure 1. 



Group and species composition by season 

 and area 



Twenty zooplankton groups (taxa) were 

 represented in the sannples. Of these, 12 con- 

 stituted more than 1 percent of the total 

 zooplankton: copepods, chaetognaths, ptero- 

 pods, amphipods, decapod larvae, cirriped 

 larvae (nauplii and cyprids), gastropod larvae, 

 cladocerans, appendicularians, fish eggs, 

 crustacean eggs, and brachyuran zoea. Cope- 

 pods were dominant, ranging from 80 percent 

 in winter to 45 percent in spring (fig. 3). 



Areal distributions of donninant zooplankton 

 groups (seasonal mean >100/l00m.3 of water) 

 were determined by seasonfor each of the three 

 Gulf areas (fig. 4, A-D). During winter, zoo- 

 plankters were at the annual nunnerical mini- 

 mum. Copepods were dominant; lowest num- 

 bers were in the central area. Chaetognaths 

 and pteropods were most numerous in the 

 western sector (fig. 4A). Inthe spring, numbers 

 in each of the major groups, with the exception 

 of cirriped larvae, decreased from west to 

 east. Larval cirripeds were most plentiful in 

 the eastern area of the coast (fig. 4B). Distribu- 

 tion was more variable during summer and fall. 



■"" P is probability, which is significant at 

 less than .05. 



Table 2. — Sample volumes (cc./lOO m.3) for 

 each of the Gulf of Maine coastal areas, 

 1964 



Copepods dominated in the western area and 

 fish eggs and crustacean eggs in the central 

 area in sunnmer (fig. 4C). Copepods, crustacean 

 eggs, brachyuran larvae, and appendicularians 

 were most numerous in the central area during 

 fall. Numbers of each of the major taxa were 

 smaller, however, in the eastern area (fig. 

 4D). 



The collections contained 23 species of 

 copepods, of which 8 were classified as com- 

 mon ( >50 per 100m. 3 per station). The domi- 

 nant species was Calanus finmarchicus , fol- 

 lowed by Pseudocalanus minutus , Centropages 

 typicus, Temora longicornis , Metridia lucens , 

 Oithona similis, Ac a r t i a longirennis , and 

 Tortanus discaudatus (table 3). Five of the 



