50 
Fishery Bulletin 1 14(1) 
Tabie 2 
Environmental data (means, ranges, and standard errors of the means in parentheses) recorded at bottom by the 
SBE 911plus system (one exception indicated at the footnote) attached to the remotely operated vehicles Kraken 
11 (2012) and Jason II (2013) during surveys of shipwrecks and sandy bottoms on the continental shelf near 
Norfolk Canyon in the Middle Atlantic Bight. Site locations are appended to the dive year in each dive no. (see 
Table 1). NA=not available. DO=dissolved oxygen. 
Dive no. 
Temperature (°C) 
Salinity 
DO (mL/L) 
2012-NF-21-SS 
12.16, 11.95-12.29 (0.0007) 
33.14, 33.16-33.17(0.0001) 
4.51, 4.45-4.55 (0.0002) 
2012-NF-22-W1 
11.94, 10.73-14.61(0.0029) 
34.16, 32.92-34.94 (0.0015) 
4.22,4.08-5.54(0.0005) 
2012-NF-23-W2 
NA 
NA 
NA 
2012-NF-24-W3 
14.31, 14.10-14.47(0.0003) 
35.65, 35.32-35.80 (0.0005) 
3.88,3.67-4.14(0.0003 
2012-NF-26-W4 
14.47, 14.40-14.52 (0.0001) 
35.78, 35.69-35.80 (0.0001) 
3.98, 3.95-4.11 (0.0001) 
2012-NF-27-W5 
14.15, 14.00-14.46(0.0008) 
35.75, 35.74-35.80 (0.0000) 
3.69,3.51-4.84(0.0006) 
2012-NF-28-NHB 
14.33, 14.22-14.39 (0.0002) 
35.71, 35.50-35.77 (0.0004) 
3.93, 3.83-4.06 (0.0004) 
2012-NF-29-W6 
14.21, 13.86-14.30 (0.0009) 
35.63,35.12-35.72(0.0013) 
3.84, 3.67-4.85 (0.0004) 
2012-NF-30-W7 
13.00, 12.53-13.41(0.0013) 
34.76,34.45-35.09(0.0008) 
3.99, 3.87-4.78 (0.0004) 
2013-RB-692-W4 
13.16, 13.09-13.32 (0.0005) 
34.83, 32.20-35.72 (0.0085) 
2.99, 1.81-4.22 (0.0042) 
2013-RB-693-W2 
13.27, 13.18-13.50 (0.0003) 
32.81, 29.66-33.14 (0.0033) 
2.44, 1.38-4.31 (0.0018) 
2013-RB-694-W3 
13.42, 12.90-13.49 (0.0004) 
35.48, 32.64-35.94 (0.0027) 
3.08,2.09-4.46(0.0021) 
2013-RB-695-W5 
13.19, 13.10-13.45 (0.0004) 
29.42, 26.38-35.18 (0.0010) 
NA ; 
2013-RB-696-W2 
13.32, 13.00-13.60 (0.0012) 
35.69, 35.63-35.77 (0.0002) 
4.71,4.57-4.76(0.0003) 
J Data were taken from the Jason II conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) system, SBE 911plus, which was 
not operating. 
again observed among the 5 deeper sites, but tempera- 
tures (means: 13.2-13.4°C) were on average a degree 
colder than they were in 2012. At these sites, more vari- 
ations in salinity (means: 29.4-35.7) and DO (means: 
2. 4-4. 7 mL/L) were recorded that those recorded in 
2012. It seems unlikely that the small environmental 
variations were biologically significant to these tem- 
perate, wide-ranging fishes, particularly at the deeper 
sites, but monitoring over longer periods is required to 
determine the scale of environmental variation. 
From analysis of the video from ROV dives, 38 
unique fish taxa, representing at least 25 families, 
were identified ( Urophycis sp., Hyporthodus sp., An- 
thiinae (unidentified), Caulolatilus sp., Labridae (un- 
identified), and unidentified fish not included in total 
counts; Table 3). Of those 38 taxa, 33 occurred on the 
AS/NHB habitat type (14 species were observed only 
on hard bottom), and 25 taxa occurred on the SS habi- 
tat type (6 occurred only on soft bottom) (Table 3). The 
lower number of species observed in the SS habitat 
type was at least partly due to lower dive effort there 
(Table 3). Three taxa, a requiem shark ( Carcharhinus 
sp.), the greater amberjack ( Seriola dumerili ), and the 
ocean sunfish (Mold mola ), that occurred over or near 
either habitat type are considered pelagic fish that are 
less constrained to benthic habitats. 
Fish assemblages on each habitat type were numeri- 
cally dominated by relatively few species. On the AS/ 
NHB substrata, 96.5% of the community was composed 
of 7 taxa (in decreasing order of abundance): uniden- 
tified anthiine serranids, the chain dogfish ( Scyliorhi - 
nus retifer), the yellowfin bass (Anthias nicholsi), the 
deepbody boarfish (Antigonia capros), the red barbier 
(Baldwinella vivanus), a scorpionfish ( Scorpaena sp.), 
and the black sea bass ( Centropristis striata). Anthiine 
serranids (all combined, including yellowfin bass, red 
barbier, and unidentified members of this subfamily) 
and the chain dogfish (Fig. 2, A and B) were each an 
order of magnitude (2 orders of magnitude compared 
with most species) more abundant than any other taxa 
in either habitat type. Most of the Anthiinae fishes 
that were observed were probably red barbier, but 
small, rapidly moving anthiines can be difficult to iden- 
tify in situ; some of these fishes could have been the 
streamer bass ( B . aureorubens), longtail bass ( Heman - 
thias leptus ), or threadnose bass ( Choranthias tenuis). 
The smaller (-60-180 mm TL) fishes of the subfamily 
Anthiinae occurred as dense aggregations whose mem- 
bers swam rapidly around hard-bottom structures (Fig. 
2 A), occasionally straying over nearby sandy bottom. 
Larger (usually -130-200 mm TL) yellowtail bass were 
more solitary and often associated with the anthiine 
schools (Fig. 2, A and B). 
Six taxa (in decreasing order of abundance: the 
chain dogfish, the deepbody boarfish, the black sea 
bass, Scorpaena sp., the yellowfin bass, and anthiine 
serranids), accounted for 93.6% of the fauna on the SS 
habitat type but usually exhibited a lower percent con- 
tribution to the SS habitat type than to the AS/NHB 
habitat type (Table 3). Species that were unique to ei- 
ther habitat type occurred in low abundance (<1% of 
total abundance within habitat). 
