http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
Pelagic cephalopods of the Florida Current
Pelagic cephalopods were collected on four transects of the Florida Current in two seasons by MOCNESS 10 midwater trawl. During the summer 45 tows collected 571 specimens of 49 taxa, during the winter sampling 34 tows collected 1,233 specimens identified to 48 taxa. The Index of Similarity of the species composition between the seasons was 0.82. Selenoteuthis scintillans, Pyroteuthis margarifitera, Pterygioteuthis giardi and Onychoteuthis banksii were common in both seasons. Helicocranchia pfefferi was collected primarily during the summer and Alloposus mollis and Leachia cyclura were the most numerous species collected during the winter sampling. An annual spawning cycle is proposed for L. cyclura and suggested for A. mollis and H. pfefferi. The species composition at each station was compared to all other stations with Bray-Curtis dissimilarity values which were sorted into a dendrogram. The major clusters separated the winter and summer stations except for the winter Palm Beach stations which grouped with the summer stations. Smaller groupings within the seasonal clusters sorted stations by their lateral position (inshore, high speed core, offshore) and by transect. The number of species increases downstream from the Straits of Florida. This is due largely to the addition of Sargasso Sea water containing subtropical species, and meso- and bathypelagic species previously restricted by bathymetry. In addition to the Caribbean and Sargasso Sea species the Gulf of Mexico and the Slope Water may be incidental sources of the Florida Current fauna. The Gulf Stream recirculates most of its water in the Sargasso Sea making entrainment into the Florida Current an effective means for dispersing subtropical cephalopods. Those tropical and subtropical species which continue to drift with the N. Atlantic Current to the eastern Atlantic will probably not survive or reproduce north of 40(DEGREES)N.
Ph. D. in Philosophy Texas A & M University 1984
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 195-204).