13-12 



other fouling-panel studies in the greater Long Island Sound area. The 

 harbor in general appears to support a productive and relatively stable 

 panel community which has not been impacted by the New Haven Harbor 

 Station operation. 



SUBTIDAL BENTHOS 



Species inventories generated by the benthic studies conducted 

 under the supervision of Normandeau Associates, Inc. (NAI) from 1973- 

 1977 and by Rhoads and Michael (R&M) from 1974-1978 were combined, and 

 the resulting species list comprised over 300 taxa. Many of these were 

 recognized as occurring only as juvenile or immature specimens or being 

 present so rarely that they were not characteristic of the New Haven 

 Harbor benthos. Fourteen ubiquitous or dominant species were identified 

 as "characteristic" of the New Haven Harbor benthos. These included 

 five polychaetes (.Glycera americana, Nephtys incisa. Nereis succinea, 

 Polydora ligni and Streblospio benedicti) , oligochaetes, four bivalves 



(Gemma gemma, Tellina agilis , Nucula proxima and Mulinia lateralis) , mud 

 snails (Nassarius trivittatus) , mysids {Neomysis americana) , sand shrimp 



iCrangon) and hermit crabs (Pagurus longicarpus) . 



An examination of spatial and temporal patterns of species 

 richness revealed that most stations supported few species at any time 

 and that no recognizable seasonal patterns were evident. Species 

 richness and diversity at the Morris Cove control stations were found 

 to be consistently greater than at inner harbor stations. An "August 

 effect" , characterized by heightened summer infaunal mortalities concur- 

 rent with maximum temperatures and minimal dissolved oxygen levels, was 

 hypothesized in previous (R&M) annual reports. When the combined data 

 sets were considered, summer declines in density and species richness, 

 though still evident, were somewhat less pronounced. 



Faunal density was spatially and temporally quite variable, 

 a situation typical of benthic assemblages in highly stressed environ- 



