Abstract
Benthic macrofauna and bottom sediments were sampled at 7 stations along a 24 km long onshore-offshore transect ranging in depth from 12 to 42 m in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts, USA. High faunal density, biomass and species diversity were recorded at stations densely populated by tubicolous polychaetes. These tube mats bind and stabilize the substratum, providing solid surfaces for attachment of epizoans. Three suspension-feeding species, Euchone incolor (polychaete), Thyasira gouldi (bivalve) and Aeginina longicornis (amphipod), co-occur with deposit-feeding species on muds resuspended by tidal currents. Hydrographic profiles of temperature, salinity and turbidity indicate that resuspended silt-clay particles are entrapped in dense water below the summer thermocline, which persists from mid-April to mid-October. The zone of intersection of the thermocline with the sea floor in about 22 m of water defines a major biofacies-lithofacies transition. This ecotone is characterized by high faunal density, biomass, and species diversity. Benthic populations of macrofauna from Cape Cod Bay are larger than those from Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, and have a widely different taxonomic and trophic composition.
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