4-2 



Primary sources of information pertaining to more recent 

 plankton surveys include reports on studies performed for the Long 

 Island Lighting Company (LILCO) at Shoreham Station (1973) , Northport 



(1973, 1976), and Port Jefferson (1976). Data on phytoplankton, zoo- 

 plankton, and ichthyoplankton are also contained in reports prepared for 

 Northeast Utilities Service Company concerning environmental monitoring 

 studies at Millstone Point (1971-1976) and Stamford (1971-1973). Williams 



(1971) discussed the influence of Northport Generating Station on the 

 resident zooplankton community. Purdin (1973) presented a paper des- 

 cribing seasonal fluctuations in copepod populations in the vicinity of 

 Shoreham Station. Caplan (1977) reported results of a six-month zoo- 

 plankton and ichthyoplankton study on patterns of distribution in con- 

 nection with a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' dredge-spoil predisposal 

 site study at Eaton's Neck in western Long Island Sound. Such data 

 provide a useful perspective in evaluating observed fluctuations in New 

 Haven Harbor plankton data. 



In Long Island Sound, a major phytoplankton bloom typically 

 occurs in late winter. A series of lesser blooms usually follow in 

 spring, summer, and autumn. The timing and intensity of these blooms 

 depend on a number of variables, among which are: 1) departures from 

 the seasonal norm of sea temperature, 2) availability of inorganic 

 nitrogen, and 3) zooplankton grazing pressure (TRIGOM-PARC , 1974). 

 Diatoms, especially Skeletonema costatum, Thalassiosira spp., and 

 Thalassionema nitzschioides , constitute the dominant net phytoplankters 

 with dinoflagellates represented in substantial quantities, particularly 

 during the warmer months. Species present represent a diverse mixture 

 of temperate and boreal types, some with sheltered estuarine affinities 

 and others with open coastal affinities (TRIGOM-PARC, 1974) . 



Among the invertebrate components of the Long Island Sound 

 zooplankton, virtually every phylum in the animal kingdom is repre- 

 sented. Principal holoplankters (animals which spend their entire lives 

 as plankton) are copepods, such as Acartia tonsa, Acartia hudsonica (= 

 clausi) , Oithona spp., Paracalanus crassirostris, Temora longicornis. 



