SEASONAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE PLANKTON OF THE 
WOODS HOLE REGION 
By CHARLES J. FISH, Ph. D., 
General Assistant, U. S. F. S. Albatross 
Contribution from the U. S. Fisheries Biological Station, Woods Hole, Mass. 
CONTENTS 
Introduction 
Methods 
Location 
Salinity and density 
Temperature 100 
General discussion of plankton 101 
Page 
91 
93 
96 
98 
Diatoms and other plants. 
Protozoa 
Ccelenterata 
Annulata and Vermes 
Mollusca 
Echinodermata 
Crustacea 
Phyllopoda 
Ostracoda 
104 
121 
123 
130 
136 
138 
139 
139 
140 
General discussion of plankton — Contd. 
Crustacea — Continued. 
Copepoda 
Cirripedia 
Arthrostraca 
Cumacea 
Schizopoda and Stomatopoda. _ 
Macrura 
Brachyura 
Pycnogonida and Xiphosura 
Chordata 
Fish 
General conclusions 
Bibliography 
141 
147 
149 
152 
152 
155 
159 
161 
162 
164 
172 
176 
INTRODUCTION 
In the plankton section of the report of the Conseil Permanent International 
pour I'Exploration de la Mer, published in September, 1922, it was pointed out that 
greater attention should be paid to the seasonal variation and range of marine 
plankton. As early as 1880, Prof. S. F. Baird remarked to Commander Z. L. 
Tanner, after the initial cruise of the United States Fish Commission steamer 
Fish Hawk, that "the profitable study of useful sea fishes can not be prosecuted 
without a laiowledge of their food, the food of their food, their respective friends 
and foes, the habitat of the several species, and their means of passing from one 
region to another in the embryonic as well as in the adult stage. The temperature, 
currents, and specific gravity, also, should be studied in connection with the migra- 
tions and habits of pelagic forms." Since that time only one area of the Atlantic 
coast of the United States has been investigated with the object of completely 
surveying and determining the distribution of the plankton, currents, salinity, 
and temperature. The interesting results of these investigations, which were 
91 
