An Atlas of the Distribution and Abundance of Dominant 



Benthic Invertebrates in the New York Bight Apex with 



Reviews of Their Life Histories 



JANICE V CARACCIOLO and FRANK W. STEIMLE, Jr. 1 



ABSTRACT 



Distribution, abundance, and life history summaries are given for 58 important species of benthic inverte- 

 brates collected in the New York Bight apex during five sampling cruises in 1973 and 1974. These species 

 showed affinities to major community types that have been previously identified in the Middle Atlantic Bight 

 and some showed varying degrees of tolerance of areas in the apex where the dumping of New York Harbor 

 dredge spoils and New York metropolitan area sewage sludge occurs. Capitella capitata, a species often associ- 

 ated with pollution stress, dominated the sewage sludge dump site. 



INTRODUCTION 



The New York Bight apex (Fig. 1). the area of continental shelf 

 waters bounded on the north by Long Island and by New Jersey on 

 the west, is one of the most intensely used areas of coastal marine 

 waters in the world. It is impinged upon by a major population cen- 

 ter, the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area, which uses the 

 apex for recreation, for harvesting fish and (formerly) shellfish, 

 and as a repository for waste products. The apex is also a thorough- 

 fare for shipping to and from one of the busiest ports in the world. 

 New York Harbor. These diverse uses or interests often conflict, 

 and regulation, for the greatest public good, is a complex and diffi- 

 cult problem. Essential to the regulation of these conflicting inter- 

 ests are good assessments of the impacts each of the uses has upon 

 the others. 



The dumping of sewage sludge, dredging spoils, and industrial 

 waste products into the apex and the flow of contaminants from the 

 Hudson and Raritan Estuaries have affected the environment of the 

 apex, degrading it for some purposes, e.g., recreation and shellfish 

 harvesting. Surveys of the distribution and abundance of selected 

 or indicator organisms or communities have often been used as an 

 aid in determining the degree to which an environment has been 

 degraded. Benthic invertebrates are particularly useful for this pur- 

 pose because of their relative immobility, wide range of life histo- 

 ries, sensitivities to environmental change, and important role in 

 marine food webs. 



Man's impact on the New York Bight ecosystem has been noted 

 for almost 100 yr. but surveys of the degree of impact were initiated 

 only within the last two decades. Most studies concerned with ben- 

 thic populations within the Bight and contiguous waters were also 

 conducted from the mid-1950s to the present, after four decades of 

 ocean disposal of sludges and spoils in the apex and over a century 

 of industrial discharges into estuaries had already had an impact on 

 the marine benthos inhabiting these waters. During 1957-60, Dean 

 and Haskin (1964) and during 1973, McGrath (1974) studied the 

 benthos of Raritan Bay, which borders the apex; in 1966, Steimle 

 and Stone (1973) studied the inshore benthic macrofauna off south- 

 west Long Island, primarily north of the lat. 40°30'N line within 

 the Bight apex. The Middle Atlantic Bight study of Wigley and 



Theroux (1981) from August 1957 through August 1965 dealt with 

 the New York Bight apex fauna only in major taxonomic groups. 

 The first comprehensive studies of the benthic macrofauna of the 

 New York Bight apex itself were made by personnel of the Sandy 

 Hook Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). 

 These studies, begun in 1968, have resulted in several published 

 papers and reports (Pearce 1971, 1972, 1974a, b, 1975: National 

 Marine Fisheries Service 1972 : : National Oceanic and Atmo- 

 spheric Administration 1976; Pearce. Caracciolo. Halsey. and Rog- 

 ers 1976). Numerous benthic data reports have also been published 

 by the NOAA-MESA Program (Pearce. Caracciolo. Frame. Rog- 

 ers, Halsey. and Thomas 1976; Pearce. Thomas, Caracciolo. Hal- 

 sey, and Rogers 1976a. b; Pearce, Caracciolo, Halsey. and Rogers 

 1977a, b; Pearce, Rogers, Caracciolo. and Halsey 1977; Pearce et 

 al. 1978; Caracciolo et al. 1978). This atlas uses part of this exten- 

 sive data set. collected during the MESA studies of 1973 and 1974. 

 to present distribution and abundance patterns for the more impor- 

 tant or dominant benthic macroinvertebrates in the New York Bight 

 apex. The atlas describes and reviews the environment in which the 

 species occur and presents a summary of aspects of their life histo- 

 ries. Through this approach, we hope to qualify the observed distri- 

 butions and to gain insight into distinguishing natural and man- or 

 pollution-induced population abundances and distributions. This 

 report also forms a part of the baseline which is being established 

 by the long-term ocean monitoring program. Ocean Pulse (Pearce 

 1977), 1 of the Northeast Fisheries Center, NMFS. 



METHODS 



Information on distribution patterns of species, sediment t\ pes. 

 organic material, and heavy metals used in this paper was derived 

 from approximately 500 benthic grab samples collected from a grid 

 of 66 stations established in the New York Bight apex. These sta- 

 tions are bounded by lat. 40°16' and 40°34'N and long. 73°36' 



'Northeast Fisheries Cenlcr Sandy Hook Laboratory. National Marine Fisheries 

 IAA. Highlands. NJ 07732. 



-National Marine Fisheries Service. 1972. The effects of waste disposal in the 

 New York Bight. Final Report. Section 2: Benthic studies. A report submitted to the 

 coastal Engineering Research Center. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Little Falls 

 Road, Wash. .DC, 63 p. 



3 Pearcc. J. 1977. A report on a new environmental assessment and monitoring 

 program. Ocean Pulse. Int. Counc. Explor. Sea Pap. ml977/E:65. Fish. Improve- 

 ment Comm., 12 p. 



