6-52 



significance except that it is somewhat surprising that 13N did not 

 group with either of the two Morris Cove clusters and that 8N, which is 

 well up into the inner harbor, showed such strong affinity to a station 

 from the control site. This particular station pair exhibited tlie 

 strongest affinity observed in the program. 



This fourth small cluster (Stations 8N and 13N) is of limited 

 value in understanding the dynamics of the Harbor ecosystem and will 

 only be treated briefly. These two stations appear to be composites of 

 several components of the other three clusters. Nephtys and Nereis both 

 appear as codominants. Streblsopio, Tellina and Mulinia are also 

 present. The controlling faunal component that appears to define this 

 cluster, however, is the dominant position of Streblospio and Oligo- 

 chaetes, which are generally not present with this frequency in other 

 clusters. Were it not for the Oligochaete component. Station 8N would 

 probably show stronger affinity for the large central Morris Cove group 

 and 13N would cluster with the peripheral Morris Cove group. 



The first and last of the groupings described above are 

 faunistically sparse and difficult to relate to other estuaries. The 

 two Morris Cove communities, however, bear resemblances to faunal 

 assemblages that have been described from other areas. McGrath (1974) 

 described a similar pattern of faunal distribution in Raritan Bay-Lower 

 New York Harbor. The two communities in Raritan Bay, which is also a 

 polluted estuary, were dominated by Streblospio-Tellina in coarser 

 sediments as seen in New Haven Harbor and Nephtys-Mulinla in the muds. 



Streblospio benedicti and Tellina agilis were described by 

 McGrath at al . (1978) as two of the characterizing organisms of Clinton 

 Harbor, a relatively unpolluted estuary a short distance to the north of 

 New Haven. Other aspects of the benthic populations, including range of 

 species richness, faunal density and diversity, as well as dominant 

 species, were comparable between Clinton Harbor and Morris Cove stations 

 in New Haven. 



