Driggers et al.: Distribution of Squatinidae in waters of the western North Atlantic Ocean 
343 
100°W 95 °W 90°W 85°W 80°W 75°W 70°W 65°W 60°W 
Figure 6 
Bottom temperatures (°C) associated with winter months (January, February, and March) 
off the coast of the southeastern United States and throughout the northern Gulf of Mexi¬ 
co, based on data from the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (north¬ 
west Atlantic Ocean, website; Gulf of Mexico, website). 
100°W 95°W 90°W 85°W 80°W 75°W 70°W 65°W 60°W 
Figure 7 
Annual composite of bottom salinity off the east coast of the southeastern United States and 
throughout the northern Gulf of Mexico based on data from the NOAA National Centers for 
Environmental Information (northwest Atlantic Ocean, website; Gulf of Mexico, website). 
curring from New England to southern Florida (e.g., 
Compagno, 1984; McEachran and Fechhelm, 1998; 
Castro, 2011; Ebert et al., 2013). The results of our 
study indicate that angel sharks in US waters of the 
WNA have a discontinuous distribution with gaps ap¬ 
proximately from Georgia through Florida, off the EC, 
and across the Mississippi Canyon in the GOM. The 
first assessment of the distribution of Squatina in the 
WNA is attributable to Jordan (1885) who considered 
the angel shark (S. squatina, with S. dumeril consid¬ 
ered a junior synonym at the time) to occur only off 
the northeastern United States. Several years later, 
Jordan and Evermann (1896) reported this species oc¬ 
curring “from Cape Cod southward.” However, within 
the junior synonym list, the authors state the location 
of the source material for the original description of 
