Protohaustorius wigleyi Bousfield, 1965 



Leptocheirus pinguis (Stimpson, 1853) 



DESCRIPTION: This species is very similar to Protohaustorius 

 deichmannae , but is slightly larger, males reaching a length of 6.5 

 mm, females, 7.5 mm (Bousfield 1973). 



DISTRIBUTION: Maine to North Carolina (Bousfield 1973). 



HABITAT: Kinner et al . (1 974) reported Protohaustorius wigleyi 

 to be an important species in the sand bottom assemblage of Dela- 

 ware Bay, closely associated with the bivalve Tellina agilis and the 

 amphipod Rhepoxynius epislomus; P. wigleyi was the most abun- 

 dant amphipod in clean medium grain sands off the Delaware coast 

 (Maurer, Leathern, Kinner, and Tinsman 1979). Bousfield (1973) 

 reported that it prefers subtidal clean sands off New England from 

 the shoreline to over 146 m. In the New York Bight apex. P. wigleyi 

 was most common near shore in depths up to 2 1 m. It occurred only 

 in low organic sands, primarily of medium to fine grain size (Fig. 

 62: Table 1). 



FEEDING ECOLOGY: See Protohaustorius deichmannae. 



REPRODUCTION AND GROWTH: P. wigleyi has an annual 



life cycle in New England waters, with ovigerous females present 

 from April to August (Bousfield 1973). 



DESCRIPTION: A relatively large gammarid amphipod with a 

 long (up to 17 mm), slender body. Leptocheirus pinguis is an epi- 

 faunal organism, which constructs mucus and sediment tubes with 

 one end open at the surface (Bousfield 1973). 



DISTRIBUTION: American Atlantic coast from Labrador south 

 to Virginia (Bousfield 1973); North Carolina (Fox and Bynum 

 1975)T 



HABITAT: Bousfield (1973) reported L. pinguis to occur from 

 the low intertidal to >250 m. on sand, sandy mud, or mud bottom, 

 especially in channels of estuaries. Michael (1973) reported this 

 species to prefer cold water and intermediate, poorly sorted sedi- 

 ments. In the New York Bight apex. L. pinguis was found at five 

 closely spaced stations south of the dump site. Sediments there are 

 predominantly high organic silt-fine sand, with depths ranging 

 from about 28 to 46 m (Fig. 63: Table 1). 



FEEDING ECOLOGY: This filter feeding species uses filter 

 setae of the anterior peraeopods from which food is transferred by 

 maxilliped palps to the mouth (Sanders 1956; Bousfield 1973). 



Leptocheirus pinguis is particularly important in the diet of had- 

 dock collected from Cape Cod and the south central portion of 

 Georges Bank (Wigley 1956: Wigley and Theroux 1965). Smith 

 (1950) also considered it to be the dominant food species for demer- 

 sal finfish in Block Island Sound. 



,'-.,40 20' 



4010" 



7350' 



7340' 



I 



V ' 3 ) , 

 1 ■' _- X 



,\ 



r t 



^2 6 0» \) 



v* \ IK 



4030- 



4020' 



□ 



□ 



1-99 -n. 

 100-269/ 



4010 



7350' 



7340' 



1 



Figure 62.- 



Distribution and abundance of Protohaustorius wigleyi in the New 

 York Bight apex. 



Figure 63.— Distribution and abundance of Leptocheirus pinguis in the New 

 York Bight apex. 



42 



