spring, summer, and fall; maximum numbers 

 were in the central area m winter. In 1966 

 distributions of copepods were more variable: 

 nunnbers generally declined fronn west to east 

 in summer and fall; peak abundance was in the 

 central area in spring; and nnean numbers 

 in the three areas were similar in winter. 

 Among the other holoplanktonic forms, num- 

 bers of euphausiids and chaetognaths gen- 

 erally decreased from west to east. Dis- 

 tributions of the meroplanktonic groups were 

 variable; of the abundant forms, crustacean 

 eggs occurred nnost frequently in siinnmer 

 in the central and eastern areas. Numbers 

 of fish eggs decreased from west to east 

 in the spring of 1965 and the spring and 

 summer of 1966, but were highest in the 

 central area in the summer of 1965. Swarnning 

 of cirriped larvae was nnost pronounced in 

 the west in the spring of 1965, and in the cen- 

 tral and eastern areas in the spring of 1966. 

 The sannples included 19 copepod species. 

 Of this nunnber, five were classifed as com- 

 mon (>50/l00 m.^ /station) in 1965, and six 

 in 1966 (table 5). The donninant species in 

 both years was Calanus finnnarchicus . In 

 addition to C. finmarchicus , three species oc- 



curred commonly in 1965 and 1966-- Temora 

 longicornis , Centropages typicus , and Pseudo- 

 calanus minutus . The abundance of the other 

 principal species varied annually; Metridia 

 lucens was classified "comnnon" in 1965, 

 and Oithona similis and Acartia longiremis 

 in 1966. 



Numbers of copepods generally decreased 

 eastward in spring, sunnmer, and fall (fig. 4). 

 Notable exceptions were the concentrations 

 of C^, finnnarchicus in the central area in 

 the spring of 1966, and of T. longicornis in 

 the eastern area in the sumnner of 1966. In 

 winter, numbers of copepods were at an annual 

 low and distributions were variable. The 

 greatest concentration in winter was of C. 

 finmarchicus in the central area in 1965. 



The west-to-east decline in volumes reflects 

 the general decrease in abundance of copepods 

 along the coast fronn Cape Ann to Machias Bay. 

 Variations in the abundance of C. finmarchicus , 

 the dominant zooplankter, were responsible for 

 the large between-year differences in volumes 

 in the western Gulf. In summer, whenthe annual 

 zooplankton volumes were highest, C. fin- 

 marchicus was about four times more numerous 

 in 1965 (ca 71,000/100 m.3 /station)thanin 1966 



Table 5. --Copepod species in zooplanlfton samples. Gulf of Ivlaine coastal waters, 1965 and 1966 



