CONTENTS 



1 .0 Introduction and background information 1 



1 . 1 Shore surveys 1 



1 .2 Damage assessment surveys 3 



1 .3 Conclusions 4 



2.0 Chemical analysis 



2. 1 Introduction 5 



2.2 Chemical analyses of water and benthic organisms (by J. L. Lake, C. W. Dimock, C. Norwood, R. 

 Bowen, and B. Kyle) 5 



2.3 Hydrocarbon analyses of plankton samples (by E. J. Hoffman and J. G. Quinn) 8 



2.4 Chemical analyses of fish samples (by P. D. Boehm and J. E. Barak) 13 



2.5 Summary 15 



3.0 Biological analyses 16 



3. 1 Introduction 16 



3.2 Analyses of benthic macrofauna from the area of Ocean 250 gasoline spill (by Sheldon D. Pratt) 16 



3.3 Zooplankton community structure in the area of Ocean 250 gasoline spill (by Jerome Prezioso and 

 Carolyn A. Griswold) 20 



3.4 Cytological-cytogenetic analyses of fourbeard rockling and yellowtail flounder eggs from plankton at 

 Ocean 250 gasoline spill (by J. B. Hughes and A. Crosby Longwell 21 



3.5 Summary 29 



4.0 Literature cited 29 



Figures 



1-1 . Site of the grounding of the Ocean 250 on Watch Hill Reef, R.I., and the immediate area including shore survey 



areas of Fishers Island and the southern Rhode Island coastline 2 



1-2. Survey area and station locations for RV Stricter cruise 78-01 . The barge Ocean 250 was grounded on Watch Hill 



Reef on 16 March 1978 3 



2-1. Station sites at which water samples and bivalves were collected during cruises on 17 and 18 March 1978. The 



Ocean 250 was grounded on Watch Hill Reef 6 



2-2. Gas chromatograms of the water-accommodated fraction of gasoline and a procedural blank 7 



2-3. Gas chromatograms of a gasoline standard in hexane, a water-accommodated fraction of the gasoline standard, 



and a water sample from station 7 8 



2-4. Gas chromatograms of the water-accommodated fraction of the gasoline and of Mercenaria mercenaria from 



station 1 9 



2-5. Station locations, zooplankton tow directions, and water column gasoline hydrocarbon values at Ocean 250 spill 



site 9 



2-6. Chromatogram of gasoline mixture form the Ocean 250 spill carried through saponification-extraction pro- 

 cedure 10 



2-7. Contrasting chromatograms from the Ocean 250 spill 1 1 



2-8. Correspondence between chromatograms of water-accommodated gasoline and lower molecular weight portion 



of plankton sample 205 from the Ocean 250 spill 12 



2-9. Recovery of volatile gasoline components in saponification-extraction procedure 12 



2-10. A sample spiked with Ocean 250 gasoline to illustrate two ranges of interest on the traces, that for gasoline and 



that for higher molecular weight petroleum and biogenic hydrocarbons found in yellowtail flounder collected at 



station 112 14 



2-11. Gas chromatographic trace illustrating no gasoline but a large amount of petroleum from the area of the Ocean 



250 gasoline spill (windowpane flounder at station 115) 15 



2-12. Gas chromatographic trace of yellowtail flounder flesh, station 1 1 5 of the Ocean 250 gasoline spill ~ 400 ppm of 



petroleum hydrocarbons — no gasoline 15 



3-1 . Watch Hill, R.I., survey area 17 



3-2. Grain size distributions of representative benthic grab samples from the survey area of the Ocean 250 spill 17 



3-3. Size class distributions of blue mussels, Mytilus edulis, from benthic grab samples 18 



3-4. Portion of chorion of fourbeard rockling egg as seen under oil immersion lens ( 1 00 x ) of light microscope 24 



3-5. Photographic enlargement of chorion of fourbeard rockling egg seen in Figure 3-4 24 



3-6. Portion of chorion of fourbeard rockling egg showing deterioration and absence of any pore structure 24 



3-7. Photographic enlargement of portion of chorion of fourbeard rockling egg showing deterioration and absence of 



any pore structure 24 



3-8. Intact, undissected fourbeard rockling egg as prepared for examination of chorion in scanning electron 



microscope and as observed in its entirety under low-power magnification of scanning electron microscope 24 



3-9. Scanning electron microscope view of a portion of chorion of fourbeard rockling egg. (10,000 X ) 25 



3-10. Scanning electron microscope view of a portion of chorion of fourbeard rockling egg. (25,000 x ) 25 



