WINTER WATER TEMPERATURES 

 AND AN ANNOTATED LIST 

 OF FISHES--NANTUCKET SHOALS TO CAPE 



HATTERAS 

 Albatross III Cruise no. 126 



by 



Robert L. Edwards, Robert Livingstone, Jr. 

 and Paul E. Hanner 



Cruise no. 126 of the Albatross III was planned 

 and conducted to gather information about the 

 distribution of fishes across the Continental 

 Shelf from Nantucket Shoals to Cape Hatteras 

 during the late winter period when water tem- 

 peratures generally are at their minimum. The 

 shelf here has a general hydrographic simi- 

 larity from north to south, well described by 

 Bigelow (1933), that makes it a particularly 

 worthwhile area in which to study the relation 

 of fish distribution to water temperature, depth, 

 and other factors of the environment. Since the 

 fish of this portion of the shelf support several 

 different, relatively important food and indus- 

 trial fisheries, as well as an intensive marine 

 sport fishery. Cruise no. 126 served to provide 

 data valuable to several research programs. 



This area has a distinctive fauna attributed 

 in part to the thermal barrier present across 

 the shelf at Cape Hatteras, as well as another 

 such barrier, less marked, separating the 

 waters of southern New England and the Gulf of 

 Maine. No one species of marine fish is neces- 

 sarily restricted to the shelf of the Middle 

 Atlantic. However, several species of conn- 

 mercial importance are present here, and only 

 here, in significant numbers. Among these are 

 the scup, fluke, common sea robin, tilefish, 

 sea bass, and tautog. 



To the north, this area shares a number of 

 species with the Gulf of Maine, especially dur- 

 ing the winter months. Some of these are the 

 yellowtail flounder, white hake, long-horned 

 sculpin, eelpout, and winter flounder. Species 



Note.--Robert L. Edwards and Robert Livingstone. Jr., Fishery Re- 

 kearch Biologisu, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Bureau of Com- 

 mercial Fisheries Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts; 

 and Paul E. Hamer, Fisheries Biologist. Department of Conservation 

 and Economic Development. Trenton. New Jersey. 



entering from the south, especially during the 

 periods of warmest water on the shelf, include 

 some that habitually range even further south 

 than Florida. Among these species are the blue- 

 fish, bluefin tuna, swordfish, American hake' , 

 filefish (several species), smooth dogfish, weak- 

 fish, and kingfish. 



The Albatross III sailed from Woods Hole on 

 January 21, 1959, and returned on February 3. 

 This was, as it turned out, the last biological 

 research cruise of the Albatross III. During this 

 cruise a total of eight fishing transects, total- 

 ing 53 fishing stations, were made across the 

 shelf as indicated in figure 1. One hundred and 

 eighty-three bathythermograph casts were 

 made, the positions for which, with associated 

 sea and weather data, are given in Appendix I. 



When time permitted, an effort was made to 

 evaluate the ability of the Edo AN/UQN-1B 

 echo sounder to differentiate various species 

 of fish, 



GEAR AND OPERATIONS 



A standard No. 36 otter trawl was used 

 throughout, with the cod end and upper belly 

 lined with 1 /2-inch (stretched measure) cotton 

 mesh to retain small fish. All of the tows were 

 one-half hour each. The standard survey record 

 card of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 

 Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, was used 

 to record the data. All fish were counted and 

 measured (fork length, to the nearest milli- 

 meter) except in those few cases where the 

 numbers were excessive, at which time aliquots 



'we prefer tfie vernacular name. "American hake,'" for Merluccius 

 albidus, to call to mind its relation to the European hake, M. merluccius 

 L., and to set it apart from other common deepwater hakes. 



