Figure 1.— Cruise track of Albatross III Cruise no. 126. Solid circles 

 indicate BT drops and ringed circles indicate fishing stations. Each 

 fishing transect is identified with its code number and name. Letters 

 are used to indicate beginnings and endings of various profiles 

 presented in Appendix 11. 



were sampled. All skates and sharks were 

 measured (total length) and sexed. Samples of 

 fish and invertebrates for laboratory studies 

 were preserved. All fish that could not be pre- 

 cisely identified on board ship were preserved 

 for determination in the laboratory. 



HYDROGRAPHIC TRANSECTS 



Hydrographic work was limited to surface 

 temperatures and to bathythermograph (BT) 

 casts. The BT was used at the end of each 

 fishing station and at regular intervals, usually 

 every hour and occasionally every half hour. 

 The bathythermographs were regularly checked 

 against the surface thermometers, and the 

 temperature unit was calibrated once aboard 

 ship. The BT temperature data appeared to be 

 reliable to within +_ 0.3° F. The temperature data 

 were plotted daily, both to help the planning of 

 the following day's work and to keep a check on 

 the functioning of the bathythermographs. 



SURFACE TEMPERATURES 



Surface temperatures obtained on this cruise 

 for this section of the Atlantic coast were 

 different only in detail from temperatures 

 reported by Bigelow (1933) for this time of year 

 (fig. 3). Along the coast, surface temperatures 

 were in the low 40's to the south and in the 

 upper 30's off southern New England. Previous 

 survey cruises off southern New England, es- 

 pecially Albatross III Cruise no. 86, January 22, 

 1957, found considerably colder surface water 

 (middle 30's) further offshore than we observed 

 on this trip. Around Cape Hatteras, the im- 

 mediate influence of the Gulf Stream may be 

 observed, dwindling to the north'ward. 



BOTTOM TEMPERATURES 



Bottom water temperatures observed on this 

 cruise (fig. 4) correspond in general with those 

 reported by Bigelow for this time of the year. 

 Typically, there is a band of warmer water 

 on the bottom along the outer edge of the 

 Continental Shelf, as shown in figure 4 and in 

 various transects (Appendix II). Bottom tem- 

 peratures are colder both inshore and offshore 

 of this band, as one would anticipate. 



FISHING TRANSECTS 



Each fishing transect was planned to be com- 

 pleted in the daylight hours of 1 day. Bad 

 weather interfered only once after a transect 

 had been started. The very last transect (off 

 Block Island) was not attempted because of foul 

 weather. The general plan was to make seven 

 stations on each transect, at 20, 40, 60, 80, 

 100, 150, and 200 fathoms. These depths were 

 not considered rigid, however, and the stations 

 were spaced so that each transect would include 

 stations representative both of the extremes 

 in depth and the extremes in temperature. Where 

 the shelf was widest. New Jersey northward, the 

 transects could not be extended into the shallower 

 water because of the great amount of running 

 time necessary to get from station to station. 

 To the south, however, seven stations were 

 easily completed within a day. The fishing 

 station data are listed in table 1. 



TEMPERATURE PROFILES 



Temperature profiles (Appendix II, figs. A-1 

 to A- 1 8) are presented for each bathythermo- 

 graph transect. Even allowing for the + 0.3 F. 

 variation in the BT recordings, there is a re- 

 markably consistent pattern of temperature 

 distribution across the shelf. This pattern in- 

 cludes a marked temperature inversion over 

 much of the shelf in depths over 40 fathoms 

 out to about the 100-fathom line. Moving from 

 south to north, the warmer water becomes more 

 and more restricted, and occasionjilly, as off 

 the Hudson Canyon, is off the bottom (see 

 fig. A-4). Whether or not such a warm water 

 zone is also to be found during the winter off 

 Georges Bank further to the north remains to 

 be established. 



Examination of these profiles along with the 

 comparable sections illustrated in Bigelow 

 (1933) show differences in detail worthy of 



