Figure 1.— New York Bight apex (enlarged) and surrounding area. 











36* 

 66° 





SO 100 150 

 KILOMETERS 



68° 



soo 



and 73°59'W. their depths ranging from 9.0 m nearshore (Station 

 16) to45.6 m in the Hudson Shelf Valley (Station 56) (Fig. 2). Data 

 were collected from on board the NOAA ships Albatross IV. Ore- 

 gon II, and Delaware //during August 1973. October 1973. Janu- 

 ary 1974. March-April 1974. and August-September 1974 (Pearce, 

 Rogers. Caracciolo, and Halsey 1977). Station positions were 

 located and maintained by Raydist precision navigation and loran- 

 A. 



Benthic Fauna 



At each station, during each cruise, five 0. 1 m- Smith-Mclntyre 

 benthic grab samples were collected. Before the samples were dis- 

 turbed, one 2.54 cm (inside diameter) core subsample was removed 

 from each grab and preserved in Formalin for future study of meio- 

 fauna. Two sediment cores were also removed, and then the 

 remainder of each grab sample was washed through a series of 

 standard geological sieves with a minimum 1.0 mm mesh size. All 

 materials retained on the sieves were fixed in 10% buffered Forma- 

 lin and later transferred to and preserved in 70% ethanol containing 

 5% glycerol. 



Dissecting microscopes were used as an aid in sorting organisms 

 from preserved macrofauna samples. The organisms found were 

 identified to the species level, whenever possible, using keys and 

 descriptions developed by Hartman (1957. 1968, 1969), Pettibone 

 (1963). Williams (1965). Day (1967). Abbott (1968. 1974). G. 

 Schultz (1969), Gosner (1971). Bousfield (1973). and others. 

 Competent taxonomists were consulted when necessary. After 

 organisms were identified, counted, and tabulated, this informa- 

 tion was coded and machine-listed by computer. The community 

 found at each station was analyzed for total number of individuals 

 fajrgrab (/V). total number of species (5). equitability (J'=H'/H' 



max = //71n S) (Pielou 1969), and diversity (H 



>= -£", In 1i 



N 



N 



where /?, = the number in the /th species. Shannon and Weaver 

 1962). 



Upon completion of a total of approximately 500 samples, a 

 computer program was written to extract the "key" or "important" 

 species found in the Bight apex. A species was defined as important 

 if it was abundant, widely distributed, a known forage species for 

 finfish (based on studies discussed later), a fishery resource spe- 

 cies, or if it possessed characteristics or behavioral traits which 

 make it useful as an "indicator" species, e.g., Capitella capitata. 

 This selection yielded a total of 58 species. 



The next step in our analysis was to combine and average distri- 

 bution and abundance data from summer cruises (August 1973. 

 October 1973. and August-September 1974) and from winter 

 cruises (January 1974 and March-April 1974) for each of the 58 

 important species. This yielded average numbers of individuals of 

 each species at each station sampled. These numbers were multi- 

 plied by 10 to give numbers per square meter, plotted, and con- 

 toured on standard station maps. In most cases, summer and winter 

 species distributions were similar, so seasonal data were combined 

 into one overall map for each species, which will be presented in 

 the Life Histories. 



Average species diversities and numbers of individuals at each 

 station were plotted in Figures 3 and 4. 



In the narrative sections of this atlas, we have reviewed and sum- 

 marized available information on distribution, habitat, feeding 

 ecology, reproduction, growth, and other unique or important char- 

 acteristics for each of the above-mentioned "key " organisms, and 

 have attempted to relate this information to the benthic environ- 

 ment in the New York Bight apex. 



