Temperature, Salinity and Plankton in the Eastern North Atlantic and Coastal Waters of Britain, 1957.: III. The Distribution of Zooplankton in Relation to Water Bodies

Abstract

The distributions of 17 species of marine zooplankton from near surface waters are discussed relative to the areas occupied by water bodies (as characterised by surface temperature-salinity diagrams) in the eastern North Atlantic and the coastal waters of Britain. The species' distributions are delimited by the area occupied by the water bodies with which they were associated in the temperature-salinity-plankton diagram, or for some species, by the extended influence of the water pursuant on mixing with another. Oceanic species show distributional features interpreted as indicating movements from north and south towards mixed (transitional) water; species occurring in both oceanic and mixed oceanic-coastal water demonstrate distributional features considered not at variance with movements from the ocean towards the inshore waters. Other, coastal species, are restricted in distribution to water lying shorewards of the position of the shelf-edge. Interspecific variation in relationships to water bodies among species within a group is reflected in more or less limitation of their geographic ranges.