VOLUME XVI DECEMBER 1972

Editor of Oceanus since its inception in 1952, Jan Hahn had
nearly completed this issue at the time of his death in July
1972. It was appropriate then that his feature article was
actually historical in nature.

In retrospect: While living on Martha's Vineyard, Jan Hahn
met a neighbor, Columbus Iselin, a meeting which changed
the whole course of Jan's life.

Cover Photo: Menemsha, Martha's Vineyard by

I

Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 59-34518

Articles may be reproduced in whole or in part by daily
news media, provided credit is given to: Oceanus, peri-
odical of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Periodicals must request the Editor's permission to reprint.
Illustrations may not be reproduced without permission,
nor may the content be published in book form.

Noel B. McLean

Chairman, Board of Trustees

Paul M. Fye
President and Director

Arthur E. Maxwell

Provost

Robert W. Morse
Director of Research

Bostwick H. Ketchum

Associate Director

Volume XVI, December, 1972
[ ] f^I ^ ^^ |\J [ ] ^^ THE W°ODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION

™ Woods Hole, Massachusetts

the many honors that can be bestowed upon mankind, few are everlasting.
Military or civil orders — the Legion d'Honneur for instance, in both categories
only last a lifespan. Nobel prize winners will always be remembered. Rightly
however, there are few. But to have a biological organism or a geographical feature
named after one will be a reminder of one's existence and work forever, (except
if the organism is declared a synonym, i. e. an incorrect systematic name, or the
Board of Geographic Names changes its mind). The honor is not lightly bestowed
and indicates that the receiver is counted foremost among his peers.

This issue has been delayed for several reasons, one of them being the fact
that we did not publish the information fifteen years ago, when we first had the
idea to describe the beasties named for people at this Institution. At that time it
would have been easy, but by 1971 it had become rather a formidable task.

This publication forms an exciting as well as historical record of the work
and the acknowledgements of our staff.

OOME of our readers may wish to consult the original papers on which the extracts
in this issue were based. We have used the acceptable abbreviations for journals,
followed by volume (number) and page numbers.

Since the journals are not always available and the annual "Collected Reprints"
of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are accessible in many libraries in
many countries, we have simplified the notation: "Contribution number 0000 of
(from) the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution." For instance: CR 35, 1934
refers to Contribution number 35, included in the Collected Reprints for 1934. We
suggest that the future issues of the Collected Reprints follow this system. How
does one go about finding Contribution Number 508 without knowing in which
year it was included in the Collected Reprints?*

U,

NDOUBTEDLY, we have missed some animal, vegetable or mineral items that
ought to have been included in this issue. Not being the Ruler of Neptune's Realm
we beg forgiveness for any omissions or commissions.

Ed.

*By looking at the list in the back of the volume (or second volume since 1964) of
Collected Reprints. — M.S.

WHAT'S IN

by JAN HAHN

NAME?...

Donax (?) atlantis, n.sp. R.V. 'Atlantis'

IN August 1934, the famed 'Atlantis' in
the third year of her long career dredged
some fossils from one of the then newly
charted canyons off New England.* The
new species, named for the ship, was
dredged off Georges Bank at depths from
480 to 596 meters. "Although there is
good reason for regarding this species as
belonging to an undescribed genus, the
material is hardly sufficiently complete or
well enough preserved to warrant making
the species the type of a new genus," de-
clared L. Wm. Stephenson who had been
given the collection for identification and
description. The report was published as:
"Geology and Paleontology of the Georges
Bank Canyons. Part II. Upper Cretace-
ous Fossils from Georges Bank ". Bull.
Geol. Soc. Am. 47: 367-410, 31 March
1936.

CR 81, 1936.
Holotype:MCZ15114.

*See: Hardouiania (?) stetsoni, page 4 of this
issue.

Among other species named for the Ketch
'Atlantis' were echinoderms, decapods,
molluscs, fish and foraminiferans:
Calliostoma (Calliostoma) atlantis Clench

and Aguayo 1938 (CR 198)
Columbarium atlantis Clench and Aguayo

1938 (CR 198)
Anomalina atlantis Bermudez 1939 (CR

243)

Paracyclois atlantis Chace 1939 (CR 199)
Solenocera atlantidis Burkenroad 1939

(CR 203)
Caryometra atlantidis A.H. Clark 1940

(CR 255)
Pythonaster atlantidis A.H. Clark 1948

(CR 410)
Cruriraja atlantis Bigelow and Schroeder

1948 (CR 447)
Hetereroteuthis (Stephanoteutbis) atlantis

Voss 1955 (CR 750)
Ingolfiellidea atlantisis Mills 1967. Can.

J. Zool. 45: 347-355. (Actually caught

aboard 'Chain'.)
Priapulus atlantisi Sanders and Hessler

1962 (CR 1268)
Nothria atlantisa Hartman 1965. (CR

1588)
Globigerina atlantisae Cifelli and Smith

1970 (CR 2370)

(This is probably named for 'Atlantis IF

as the material was obtained on an

'Atlantis II' cruise!)

Other vessel have been remembered too:
Xanthocalanus alvini Grice and Hiilse-

mann 1970 (CR 2144)
Chiridiella chain! Grice 1969 (CR 2057)
Styela chain! Monniot and Monniot 1970

(CR 2301)
Myriowenia gosnoldi Hartman 1965 (CR

1588) —M.S.

5 • -•• -
H. (?) stetsoni, a fossil dredged by 'Atlantis'

Henry C. Stetson, one of the first to be
appointed to the Institution staff, started his
investigations in submarine geology from
his own sloop, while a student.

Hardouiania (?) stetsoni, n. sp.

H. C.Stetson

HE late H. C. Stetson* was a pioneer
marine geologist who started ocean bottom
studies from his own Friendship sloop the
'Neva.' He came to the Institution in
1930 and died on board the 'Atlantis' off
Antofagasta, Chile, on December 3, 1955.

The new species of a fossil echinoderm
was dredged by him in August 1934 from
the side of Oceanographer Canyon on
Georges Bank off Cape Cod at depths of
480 to 596 meters and was indicated to be
of Cretaceous age. L. Wm. Stephenson who
described the fossils** wrote: "The secur-
ing of identifiable fossils as old as upper
Cretaceous (65-100 million years ago),
from deeply submerged rock in place on
the seabottom, is a fact unique in the
annals of fossil collecting and evidences the

*See: Henry Crosby Stetson, In Memorial,
Oceanus, Vol. IV, No. 2. Winter 1956.

**See: Donax atlantis, page 3 of this issue for
title of paper.

ingenuity and resourcefulness of the col-
lector."

The canyons dredged by the 'Atlantis'
were still called "gorges" and were newly
charted by a sonic survey made in 1930-
1932 by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic
Survey. Although some were known from
wire soundings, many new ones were dis-
covered and for the first time showed the
true dimensions of the canyons. Two of
the newly charted features aptly were
named Hydrographer Canyon and Ocean-
ographer Canyon.

Although fragments of fossil rock had
often been found in otter trawls in the
area they had never before been taken
in place.

Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 47: 3 67-4 10. CR81,

1936.

Holotype: MCZ 3516.

See also: Stetsonia minuta Parker 1954.
Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 111:451-588.

—M.S.

The tides of Woods Hole and the salt marsh at Barnstable have aroused the scientific curiosity of Alfred C. Redfield
for many years. In 1972 his beautifully illustrated report on the marsh appeared in Ecological Monographs
(CR 2513).

Abralia redfieldi, n.sp. A. C. Redfield

1 HERE is an interesting story con-
nected with the discovery of this new
species of squid named for Dr. Redfield,
retired Associate Director who was on
our staff from 1930 to 1956. During the
winters of 1938-1939 the R.V. 'Atlantis'
made two successful cruises around Cuba
known as the Harvard-Havana Expedi-
tion. Several of the many new forms of
life found during those cruises are men-
tioned in this issue. The collection of
squids were deposited in the Museum of
Comparative Zoology at Harvard, await-
ing someone with interest and competence
to study them. World War II intervened
but in 1950 G. L. Voss, a student at the
University of Miami was recommended
by Dr. Redfield for a fellowship from
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to
enable him to spend a summer in Cam-
bridge to examine the collection. The
award carried the princely stipend of
$600.00. The professional reward far out-
weighed the value of the fellowship. Voss
found new genera and new species in the
collection.

The squid named for Dr. Redfield was
taken off Cuba at a depth of 510m in
May 1939. Described as being liberally
covered by light organs on the body, arms,
head, and eyes, the squid was in poor

condition. By a happy coincidence another
one in perfect condition was taken in
December 1953 at the sea surface of Gun
Cay, in the Bahamas, as Dr. Voss was
writing his paper.

The collection was described in: Bull.
Marine Sciences of the Gulf and Carib-
bean 5, (2): pp. 81-1 15, June 1955. Also:
CR 750, 1955.
Holotype MCZ 203980
Paratype MCZ 203980

Probably alone among those mentioned
in this issue, Dr. Redfield is not the first
to lend his name to an animal or plant.
A genus of grass, Redfieldia, was named
by Vasey for his grandfather, John
Howard Redfield, a botanist connected
with the Philadelphia Academy of Science.
The plant is found on sandy plains from
South Dakota to Arizona.

Some half dozen genera of fossil fish and
mollusks were named for Dr. Redfield's
great grandfather, William C. Redfield who
lived at a time when undescribed species
were easier to come by. He was the first
President of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science (A.A.A.S.)
founded in 1848. A self-taught scientist,
W. C. Redfield made contributions on
fossil fish, but is better known as a pioneer
meteorologist who established the circular
nature of tropical hurricanes.

Acrossoc/iei/us sc/iroeden

Despite the increasing burden as the Institution's
first Business Manager, Wm. C. Schroeder continued
to collaborate with Dr. Bigelow. From 1927 until
1968, there were thirty-nine reports on fish, par-
ticularly sharks, rays and skates: three exceeded
500 pages in length.

Munida schroederi, n.sp.

Wm. C. Schroeder

C,

-RUST ACE ANS have been called the
insects of the sea because there are so
many of them, spread over all ocean areas
and depths.

A new decapod (decapods are prawns,
lobsters, and crabs) was found eight miles
off Great Island, north of the Bimini
group in the Bahamas, at a depth of 155
fathoms.

A total of 250 specimens of these were
taken during the expedition, leaving no
doubt as to its identification. Holotype:
MCZ 10216.

See: Chace, F. A. Jr. ''Reports on the
scientific results of the first 'Atlantis' ex-
pedition to the West Indies (etc., etc.)

Also:

Acrossocheilus schroederi, H.M. Smith,
1945. Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. 188: 203.

Lyengraulis schroederi, Hildebrand, 1943.
Bull. Bingham Oceanogr. Coll. 8:

Fig. 70.

Potomatrygon schroederi, Yepes, 1960.
Bol. Mus. Cienc. Nat. Caracas: 7-11.

Bathyclupea schroederi, Dick 1962. Brevi-
ora, M.C.Z. 167: 4 pp.

Schroederichthys niaculata Springer 1966.
Fish. Bull. U.S. Fish. Wildl. Serv. 65(3):
581-624.

—M.S.

Preliminary discussion of one new genus
and seventeen new species of decapod and
stomatopod Crustacea." Mem. Soc. Cu-
bana Hist. Nat., Vol. 13(1): 31-54, 1939.
Also CR, 199, 1939.

Pristiophorus schroederi, n.sp.
38.3, 64.5 and 80.5 cm long

M<

Wm. C. Schroeder

.OST sharks go back into ancient
history, they survived for millions of years
with little change or evolution. One
family of great antiquity is the sawshark
Pristiophoridae. This is a poorly known
family, very similar to the sawfish. The
sawfish, however, is ray-like, swims in
shallow tropical and subtropical waters,
and may reach a length of twenty feet.

Sawsharks were known only from the
eastern hemisphere and South Africa until
1958-59 when three were brought up in
trawls in the Bahamas. One was caught at
350 fathoms in Santaren Channel and the
others in 500-520 fathoms north of Little
Bahamas Bank. Named for our Mr.
Schroeder in recognition of his work on
sharks, the new species was described by
S. Springer and H. R. Bullis, Jr. "A new
species of sawshark from the Bahamas".
B. Mar. Sci. Gulf Carib. 10(2) : 241-254,
1960. Holotype USNM 185946. Not
in CR.

Schroeder/'ch/riys maculatus

-

As first Director, Henry B. Bigelow made the
"rounds" each morning to make certain that every-
one was "happy". No work behind closed doors.
Here he chats with Frederick S. McMurray, Master
of 'Atlantis' and a gifted raconteur.

Calliostoma (Astele) bigelowi, n.sp.
Calliostoma schroederi, n.sp.
Calliostoma atlantis, n.sp.

H. B. Bigelow
Wm. C. Schroeder
R/V 'Atlantis'

I

N 1938 and 1939 the R/V 'Atlantis'
made two successful cruises dredging bot-
tom life around Cuba. As a result quite a
few new genera and new species of
mollusks were discovered. Some of these
were named for Dr. Bigelow, Director of
the Institution and in overall charge, and
for Mr. Schroeder who was in charge of
the dredging on board the ship. Since
mollusks are second to the insects in
number of species it is not too surprising
that so many new ones were found in an
area not well covered prior to the time.

Each of the species mentioned above is
a pretty little thing that would find favor
in any shell collection. They are quite
small about 25-33 mm in diameter.
C. bigelowi was found in Bahia Cochinos,
Cuba at 205 fathoms on February 25,
1938. The holotype is MCZ 135003. The
last one possibly was named for the ship
but the authors do not mention this. It
was taken off Mariel, Pinar de Rio Prov-
ince, on March 23, 1939 in 330 fathoms.
Holotype MCZ 135164.

The first two new species can be found
in: Clench, W. J. and C. G. Aguayo.
"Notes and descriptions of new species of
Calliostoma, Gaza and Columbarium
(Mollusca), obtained by the Harvard-
Havana Expedition off the coast of Cuba.
Mem. Soc. Cubana Hist. Nat., 12(5): 375-
384. (In those days authors made certain
that you knew what you were getting by
reading the headlines). Also: CR 198,
1939.

The 'Atlantis' shell was described in a
paper by the same authors "Notes and
descriptions of new deep-water Mollusca,
etc., etc. III". In the same journal Vol. 14
(1): 77-94. CR 250-1940.

From the same expedition came a
25 cm sea cucumber Bathyplotes bigelowi
n.sp. dredged in 220-320 fathoms near
Bahia de Cochinos Sta. Clara Province,
determined by Elizabeth Deichmann and
also published in the same journal Vol.
14(3): 183-240. "Report on the holo-
thurians (etc., etc.) with a revision of the
Molpadonia of the Atlantic Ocean". Also:
CR 248, 1940. The holotype is in the
MCZ but no number was given in the text.

Pontosphaera bigelowi, n.sp.

H. B. Bigelow
16 microns

the early 1930's two distinguished
Norwegian scientists visited Woods Hole
and proceeded to make a study of the Gulf
of Maine and the Bay of Fundy. On most
of the oceanic stations in the Gulf they
found a new species of coccolith. It was
so abundant that up to 680 cells were
found per liter of seawater.

Coccoliths* are esthetically pleasing
microscopic plant cells protected by tiny
plates of calcium carbonate. The little
plates rain down to the seabottom and are
used to study the past history of the oceans
and as indicators in the search for petro-
leum. The modern electron microscope
has done much to reveal their intricate
shapes. This new species, found almost
40 years ago, was described as forming a
regular pentagon-dodeka-hedron!

Typical of those more relaxed years is
the long, fine paper which resulted from
the study. Gran, H. H. and T. Braarud.
"A quantitative study of the phytoplank-
ton in the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of
Maine (including observations on hydrog-
raphy, chemistry and turbidity). J. Biol.
Bd. Canada, 1(5): 279-467. 1935. Also:
CR 69, 1935

Braarudosphaera bigelowi

H. B. Bigelow

In 1947 it was decided that this cocco-
lith was named in error, and that it actu-
ally formed a new family. It was renamed
and in the generic name also honored
Professor T. Braarud, University of Oslo.

Deflandre G. and C. Fert. "Type d'une
famille nouvelle de Coccolithophorides ac-
tuel et elements composites" C.R. Acad.
Sci. (Paris), vol. 225: 439-441.

Sphyrna bigelowi

Lucaya bigelowi, n.sp. H. B. Bigelow

.L/ECAPODS are an important order of
the crustaceans. Included are the shrimps
and prawns, the lobsters and the prolifer-
ate krill on which whales feed. This prawn
found east of Great Abaco Island in the
Bahamas at a depth of 5200 meters was
named for Dr. Bigelow "whose efforts
were instrumental in the success of the
present expedition."

Galetra bigelowi

*See: "Coccolith intrusion in the Black Sea since
the Ice Age", by D. Bukry. Oceanus, Vol. XV,
No. 4, July 1970.

•;

Bigelowia atlanticus, with an
enlargement of a ventral arm

8

Holotype MCZ 10239, described in:
Chace, F. A. Jr. "Reports of the scientific
results of the first 'Atlantis' Expedition to
the West Indies, under the joint auspices
of the University of Havana and Harvard
University. Preliminary descriptions of
one new genus and seventeen new species
of decapods and stomatopod Crustacea."
Mem. Soc. Cubana Hist., Nat., 13(1):
31-54. 1939. Also CR 199, 1939.

There are some shrimp of peculiar interest,
For instance the cleaning shrimp takes
care of certain fishes and the Sargassum
shrimp looks like a piece of weed.

Neoturris bigelowi, from Ceylon with
an umbrella higher than wide, up to 21 mm
in diameter and has about 120 tentacles.
Named by Kramp in 1959.

Also:

Hypoprion bigelowi Cadenat, 1956. Bull.
Inst. Fran. Afr. No. ISA.

Bigelowia atlanticus, McDonald & Clench,
1934. Occ. Pap. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist.
8: 145.

Sphyrna bigelowi, Springer, 1944. J.Wash.
Acad. Sci. 34: 274.

Galetta bigelowi Sears 1953 (CR 602)

—M.S.

Euphysora bigelowi

Bell is 4-13 mm high.

H. B. Bigelow

Mysidopsis bigelowi, n.sp. H. B. Bigelow
7 mm

OCIENTISTS were having a field day in
the late 1 800's and in the early part of this
century, by naming tiny medusae. Most
of these jellyfish acquired a long list of
synonyms which were sorted out by
P. L. Kramp in "Synopsis of the Medusae
of the World." J. Mar. Biol Assoc., 40,
1961.

Euphysora bigelowi, a synonym for
Steenstrupia bigelowi. Being quite com-
mon in the Malay Archipelago, the medusa
was found in 1899 and described by Maas
in: Siboga Expedition, Monogr. 10, Livre
26, 1905.

Octophialucium bigelowi, from Aca-
pulco Harbor in Mexico. This 10 mm
high and 8 mm wide medusa has very
thick jelly. This was a new name given
by Kramp in 1955 for O. poly no in a,
named by Dr. Bigelow in 1909.

Calycopsis bigelowi. Found in the Gulf
of Aden on the Valdivia Expedition
(1898-1899). 16 mm high and wide, this
medusa has numerous small tentacles.

Haliscera bigelowi, from the eastern
tropical Pacific. 15-17 mm wide, 9-10 mm
high. Named by Kramp in 1947. It is
found also off West Africa.

Laodicea bigelowi. With a worldwide
distribution this jellyfish is up to 37 mm
wide and has 400-600 tentacles. First
named by Forbes and Goodsir in 1853
this medusa has dozens of synonyms, in-
cluding L. undulata.

HE opossum shrimp (Mysidacea) is

another interesting crustacean. The com-
mon name derives from a brood pouch
located under the thorax of the female.
They are common in coastal waters but
are found also at mid-depths in the deep
ocean where one particular mysid is bright
red and emits a luminescent cloud to
avoid capture.

M. bigelowi was found in a collection
made by the steamer 'Bache' off Chesa-
peake Bay on January 20, 1914. The
U.S. Coast Survey steamer was named
after Benjamin Franklin's great grandson
Alexander D. Bache, founder and first
president of the National Academy of
Sciences.

Holotype USNMS 59115. Tattersall, W.M.
"Crustaceans of the order Euphausiacea
and Mysidacea from the western North
Atlantic". Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., vol. 69,
art 8; 1926.

Hydrolagus alberti Bigelow and Schroeder
1951 (CR 555)

"Named for Albert E. Parr in recognition
of his many contributions to ichthyol-
olgy". Dr. Parr was a Research Associate
in Oceanography from 1 February 1933
to 31 August 1945, a Member of the
Corporation since 1938 and a Trustee
from 1938-1966.

See also:

Cetomimoides parri Koefoed (CR2109,
p. 331) —M.S.

Triakis barbouri

Triakis barbouri, n.sp.
255-388 mm long

T. Barbour

1 HERE are many small sharks in the
ocean which live at various depths, all the
way to the bottom. In 1938 and 1939 the
R.V. 'Atlantis' collected thirty-eight small
sharks in the Cuban region in trawls fish-
ing at 470 to 670 meters on six stations.
However, since these trawls could not be
closed on the way up, the sharks may
have been swimming at mid-depths. All
thirty-eight were taken off the northeast
coast of Cuba, off Santa Clara Province
and were tolerably plentiful.

The famed team of Bigelow and
Schroeder stated: "These little sharks of
deep water, are known from very few
specimens — Until the present ( 1 944) this
genus is known only from the Indian and
Pacific oceans. The 38 specimens col-
lected, fall clearly in this genus but sepa-
rated from all previous known members.
— This find is of great interest from the
zoogeographical standpoint, for it adds
one more to the list, already considerable,
of animals that occur both on the Pacific
coast of America on the one hand, and
in the Caribbean-West Indian region on

Lycengraulis barbouri

the other, but are not known elsewhere in
the Atlantic. We name this shark barbouri
after our friend and colleague, Thomas
Barbour, in recognition of constant as-
sistance he has given us in our labor on
the sharks of the Western North Atlantic."

In an amusing aside, the authors stated
that a striking difference in the sharks
would demand the institution of a new
genus but that the source material "is not
available at present, being presumably at
Berlin". This was in the middle of World
War II.

The Holotype is MCZ 36099.

See: "New sharks from the western north
Atlantic", by H. B. Bigelow and W. C.
Schroeder. Proc. New England Zoology
Club, XXIII: 21-36, Aug. 1944. Also:
CR 333, 1944.

Molpadia barbouri Deichmann 1940

(CR 248)

Psalidopus barbouri Chace 1939 (CR

199)

Oocorys barbouri Clench and Aguayo

1939 (CR 224)

Barbourina atlantica Bermudez 1939

(CR 218) —M.S.

On the "back steps" for their mid-
morning smoke at the M.C.Z. — Henry
B. Bigelow (right), Thomas Barbour
(center), Wm. M. Wheeler (left), an
entomologist who listed the copepods
of the Woods Hole region in 1899. Dr.
Barbour, like Dr. Bigelow, was among
the first permanent incorporators of the
Institution.

10

Latirus mcmurrayi, n.sp... F. S. McMurray

1 HE pretty little mollusk, named for
Captain Frederick S. McMurray, skipper
of the R.V. 'Atlantis' from 1932 to 1942,
was dredged from a depth of 380 meters
off Matanzas, Cuba, during the Harvard-
Havana Expedition. Quite a few new
marine animals were collected during two
cruises made in the winters of 1938 and

1939. The shipboard work was in charge of
Mr. Wm. C. Schroeder and Dr. L. Howell
Rivero, both of whom were honored by
having new species named for them.

The mollusk was described by Drs. W. J.
Clench and C. G. Aguayo in: "Notes and
descriptions of new deep water Mollusca,
obtained by the Harvard-Havana Expedi-
tion off the coast of Cuba: Part IV(1)."
Mem. Soc. Cubana Hist. Nat., 15(2): 177-
180. 1941: Also: CR 289, 1941. (The il-
lustrations are wrongly bound at the end
of Contribution No. 288, in the 1941
Collected Reprints.)

Holotype: MCZ 135285
CR288, 1941

Among the other mollusks found, there
were many that were known from the
Pacific coast of central America but had
not been previously found in the Atlantic-
Caribbean area.

Derichthys iselini, n.sp. C. OT>. Iselin

r\ bathypelagic fish was named for
Columbus Iselin by Dr. N. A. Borodin
of the Museum of Comparative Zoology.
In 1928, Columbus, together with 8 other
young men, took the schooner 'Atlantis'
on an oceanographic cruise from New
York via the Azores to England and back.
"He succeeded in collecting and preserv-
ing in excellent condition many deep sea
fishes, some of them of comparatively
large size. - - 6 species were new to science
and many others rare - ' stated Dr.
Borodin, in Proc. New Engl. Zoolog. Club.
X:110, 1929.

Alas and alack, the record did not
stand long. In 1934 Dr. Albert E. Parr
disputed the new species and stated that
the fish was synonymous with Derichthys
serpentinus, described by Gill in 1887.*

The cruise of the schooner 'Atlantis'
was not an easy one, causing Columbus
to write in his journal: " — it is really a
shame the way I lure these fellows out here
with stories of the beautiful ocean. They
come in high hopes expecting an exciting

*Parr, A. E. "Report on Use of a Triangular
Trawl for Bathypelagic Collecting." Bull.
Bingbam Oceanogr. Coll. IV(1): 32-34. 1934.
Also: CR 35, 1934.

11

and pleasant passage. It never turns out
to be pleasant for more than five minutes
at a time and the excitement lasts for even
shorter periods and generally consists of
getting all but swept overboard — but
never for one moment does anyone sug-
gest that I am a damn liar." Saturday,
August 25th, 1928.

And not even one little fish to show
for it!

Also: Lampanyctus iselinoides Bussing
1965. Antarct. Res. Ser. 5:185-227
Lampanyctus iselini Parr 1934. Bull.
Mus. Conip. Zool. 11:60 (Now a syno-
nym of L. crocodilus, see: R. Bolin
1959, Kept. Scient. Res. 'Michael' Sars
Deep-Sea. Exped. 1910, Vol. 4 Pt. 2,
No. 7.)

—M.S.

• -.

Scopelengys whoi, n.sp.

155 mm long Woods Hole

Oceanographic Institution

1 HIS new species of a near relative of
the lantern fishes was found by Dr. G. W.
Mead on 'Chain' cruise 26 in May 1962,
just north of the Cariaco Trench off Ven-
ezuela. The trench water does not contain
oxygen below a depth of about 375 meters,
and has been described in former issues
of Oceanus (see Index). Scopelengys was
known from only two species found* in ths
Arabian Sea in 1890 by H. M. Survey
Steamer 'Investigator' and described in
1939 in the Scientific Reports of the John
Murray Expedition, 7(1): 166. Later these
fishes were found common off the Pacific
coasts of Mexico, Central and South
America. The new species mentioned here

was the first record of the genus from the
Atlantic Ocean.

Dr. Mead stated that: 'The name whoi
should be considered an arbitrary com-
bination of letters". Somewhat earlier an
animal had been named sio for Scripps
Institution of Oceanography and, I believe,
there is a bufish for the Bureau of Com-
mercial Fisheries. This naming led to
some acrimonious correspondence in
Science by zoologists who did not care
for this type of nomenclature.

The finding was reported in "Observa-
tions on fishes caught over the anoxic
waters of the Cariaco Trench, Venezuela",
by G. W. Mead. Deep-Sea Research,
10(1-2); 251-257. Also CR: 1310, 1963.

See also:

Whoia n. gen. Hessler (CR 2255)

—M.S.

12

Seriola carpenter!, n.sp.

437 mm long W. K. Carpenter

1 HIS new species of amberjack from
the eastern Atlantic previously was mis-
identified under three other species. In
a lengthy paper, F. J. Mather III of our
staff described the measurements made on
one of the amberjacks bought in a fish-
market in Angola and on some fifty speci-
mens taken on various oceanographic
cruises, including the Guinean Trawling
Survey.

"This species is named for my friend,
William K. Carpenter, an outstanding big
game fisherman who has long been the
President of the International Game Fish
Association. His dedicated support of
marine science* includes generous finan-
cial contributions and outstanding per-
sonal participation in research activities,"
wrote Mr. Mather in: "Seriola carpenter!,
a new species of amberjack (Pisces:
Carangidae) from tropical western Africa".
Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 84(22): 177-188,
1971. Also: CR 2559, 1971.

The Holotype is USNM 205000; formerly
Tropical Atlantic Biological Laboratory
(T.A.B.L.) 103725. Paratypes at USNM,
T.A.B.L. and in the Musee National
d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.

Professor Johs. Schmidt og hans Hustru, Ingeborg Schmidt.

Amarsipus carlsbergi, n.sp.
56.2 mm long

Carlsberg brewery

vyF course, the Carlsberg brewery is not
a member of this Institution but we could
not help wanting to mention this name —
described as a new species of a new genus
in a new family, Amarsipidae. This pecul-
iar, near translucent, fish was named carls-
bergi "in honor of the Danish house of
Carlsberg, patron of oceanic ichthyology
for over half a century and brewer of a
very fine beer".

So far it has been found only in the
Indian and Pacific oceans along the
Equator.

R. L. Haedrich. "A new family of
aberrant stromateoid fishes from the Equa-
torial Indian Pacific. Dana Report No. 76,
1969. CR2062, 1969.

Holotype: DANA 3947(2)

*Mr. Carpenter has long been an Associate of
the Institution. See: "Associate Associates",
Oceanus, VIII(2), Dec. 1961.

The Institution's relationship with the
Carlsberg Brewery was close in the 1930s.
The Danish oceanographer, Johannes
Schmidt, was a good friend of Dr.
Bigelow's. He was Director of the Carls-
berg Laboratories. "An American flag,
was presented to us by Mrs. Johannes
Schmidt, • was hoisted over her

['Atlantis']." (Ann. Rept. 1930-1932,
p. 19.)
See also:

Abyla schmidti Sears 195 3 (CR 602),

Abyla ingeborgae Sears 1953 (CR 602)

—M.S.

13

Bostwick H. Ketchum, a member of the
scientific staff since 1940, is an Editor of
Estuarine and Coastal Marine Science.
Vol. 1, No. 1 will appear shortly.

James M. Moulton, Bowdoin College,
has been affiliated with the ichthy-
ologists at the Institution on a
number of cruises.

pons moultoni J. M. Moulton

"MoULTON'S BRIDGE" is not a new
species, but a feature named after Dr.
J. M. Moulton, of Bowdoin College, who
discovered this bridge over the inner ear
of stromateoid fishes.

The bridge was investigated and named
by our Dr. R. L. Haedrich: ". . . paying
tribute to Moulton's great curiosity about,
knowledge of, and overwhelming enthu-
siasm for the inner ear of fishes. ":

Haedrich argues that the bridge can be
used as a tracer in an evolutionary line
linking specialized perch-like fishes with a
generalized beryciform; one which lived in
Mesozoic times. See: "The pons moultoni,
a significant character", by R. L. Haedrich,
Copeia, 1971, No. I: 167-169.) Also:
CR 2422-197.

Scorpoena moultoni, n.sp. J. M. Moulton
1 % inches long

OAID to have been rosy red when alive,
this little scorpion fish was found in a red
coral head dredged up from a depth of
about 16 meters north of Wilson Island,
Capricorn group, Queensland, on October
19, 1960.

The fish was named after Professor
J. M. Moulton "who came to Queensland
in 1960-61 to study underwater noises
made by animals." The holotype is in the
Australian Museum, Sydney. No. IB 5062.

Found and presented by Dr. Moulton,
the fish was described in: "A new scorpion
fish from Queensland," by G. P. Whitley.
North Queensland Naturalist, 29(127):
9-10, 1961. NotinCR.

*We can testify to this. During one cruise when many of us were scrimshawing whale's teeth in the
old patterns, Moulton scrimshawed a fish's inner ear on his whale's tooth! (ed.)

14

Candacia ketchumi, n.sp. B. H. Ketchum
1.75 mm long

SINCE the late 1950's our biologists
have been making periodic biological and
hydrographic observations along a line of
15 fixed stations between Montauk Point
on Long Island, N. Y., and Bermuda.
Among other observations we have col-
lected the plankton from the upper 200
meters at each of the stations.

Back at Woods Hole, the zooplankton
collections are sorted into the major taxo-
nomic categories such as copepods, chae-
tognaths, euphausiids, etc. The quantity
of each group, as measured by displace-
ment volume, is determined, as well as the
number of animals in each group. The
species comprising each group also are
identified. All this data is being used in
studies of the distribution, abundance and
seasonal occurrence of zooplankton in this
area.

An unusual looking female copepod —
unusual in the sense it was different from
other species previously encountered —
was found in a tow made on one of the
Sargasso Sea stations on R/V 'Crawford'
cruise 35 in December 1959. The copepod
clearly belonged to the genus Candacia.
A check of the descriptions of all 26
described species of Candacia revealed
that it was not like any of them. However,
the specimen was put away until such
time as additional specimens might ap-
pear, since it is usually inadvisable to
describe a new species on but a single
specimen.

Only a few months later, in March 1960
during 'Crawford' cruise 38, in a Sargasso
Sea sample another female, identical to the
first one, as well as a male was taken in
the plankton tow. The three copepods
thus formed the basis of the description
of a new species of Candacia (the 27th)
and the type material was deposited in the
U.S. National Museum, numbered, 10526,
10527 and 10528.

The new species was named for Dr.
B. H. Ketchum then Senior Oceanographer
and today Associate Director of the Insti-
tution. See: Grice, G. D. "Candacia
ketchumi, a new calanoid copepod from
the northwestern part of the Sargasso
Sea." Crustaceana 2 (2): 126-131 1961.
Also: CR 1127, 1961.

Howard L. Sanders, on the scientific staff since
1955, has furthered our understanding of the
benthos at depths where many of the inhabi-
tants prove to be new to science.

Gasterascidia sandersi, n.g., n.sp.

2-5 mm long H. L. Sanders

Ti

HE investigations of our Dr. Sanders
during the last twelve or more years cer-
tainly have shown that there is a far greater
abundance of animal life in the deep sea
than had been believed. For over one
hundred years the deep bottom was con-
sidered to be sparsely inhabited. Sanders'
interest in studying the animal life which
lives in the upper layers of the bottom
sediment has changed this idea. Being
generous in his distributions of collections
to many specialists, it is no wonder that
Dr. Sanders has had six species new to
science named for him, four of which also
are new genera.

In a surprising haul, no less than 113
adult specimens of this new genus of tuni-
cate were brought up from a depth of
4680 meters on station 70 of 'Atlantis II'
cruise No. 12, at 36°23'N and 67°58'W.
Tunicates are best known to sailors as
salps, the beautiful transparent globs of life
found all over the ocean. Ascidians also
are tunicates but live attached to the bot-
tom. Yet, this new genus was described
as "certainly moving on the bottom, cap-

15

turing foraminifera, copepods and small
amphipods by its buccal aperture used as
a trunk." This was startling, possibly the
first tunicate that is carnivorous instead
of being a filter feeder.

"G. sandersi has the most peculiar
shape and is the most specialized of all the
Tunicata," stated C. Monniot and F. Mon-
niot in: "Les Ascidies de grandes pro-
fondeurs recoltees par le navire oceano-
graphique americain 'Atlantis II'." Bull.
Inst. Oceanogr. Monaco., 67(1379): 48
pp., 1968.

Also: CR 2029, 1968.

The globular body of this tunicate was
covered with grains ('de sable') and fora-
minifera tests. The husband and wife
team of biologists, — not so rare in biology,
we also know of one such team in
meteorology and, of course, one can never
forget the Curies — , were most enthusiastic
about the collection in a Gallic way, and
compared this one cruise of the 'Atlantis II'
in importance with the Swedish Deep Sea
Expedition, the cruise of the (Danish)
'Galathea', the German South Polar Expe-
dition and the Deutsche Tiefsee Expedi-
tion. The authors stated that in this rich
collection there were six species new to
science proving that there is a great variety
of ascidians at great depths of which we
only know a small number.

Also:

Sandersiella Shiino 1965. Crustaceana

8: 181-191.

Crassibrachia sandersi Southward 1968.

Bull. mar. Sci. 18(1): 182-190.

Spinacopia sandersi Kornicker 1969.
Sin i Hi sun. Contrib. Zool. 8: 1-50.

Hulingsina sandersi Puri 1958. Trans.
Gulf Ass. Geol. Soc. 8.

Several are "in press".

—M.S.

Mastogloia guillardi, n.sp.

12-16 micron long R. R. L. Guillard

G.

GENERALLY, we think of diatoms,
the grass of the sea, as single-celled plants
floating on or near the sea surface. Some,
however, are known to stick to inshore sea-
weeds or fresh water weeds. These are called
epiphytes, meaning they are plants grow-

ing on other plants, without deriving nutri-
tion from the host. The most widely
known example in the U.S. is Spanish
moss growing on trees in southern states.

Mastogloia guillardi

Robert R. L. Guillard, is himself concerned with various
phases of the physiology and culture of marine diatoms.

E. J. Carpenter of this Institution
found 13 species of diatoms, 2 of them
new to science, growing in dense profusion
on Sargassum. The number of species
however, was low compared to those on
inshore plants, where as many as 57 spec-
ies of diatoms belonging to 19 genera have
been reported in a single location. Prev-
ious to Carpenter's investigations only
one species of diatom had been reported
from Sargasso weed.

The weed was collected by dipnet over
a distance of 2000 km between Woods Hole
and the Virgin Islands in February 1970
during cruise 56 of the 'Atlantis IP. See:
E. J. Carpenter: "Diatoms attached to
floating Sargassum in the western Sargasso
Sea": Phycologia, 9 (3/4): 269-274. Also:
CR 2536, 1970.

16

In coastal waters or on the high seas, Edward M. Hulburt
examines the limiting effects of the environment on the
phytoplankton.

Mastogloia hulburti

Mastogloia hulburti, n.sp. E. M. Hulburt

A,

.MOTHER new species of pennate dia-
toms living on floating Sargassum. This
and the preceding species appeared to be
widespread, having been found on five of
seven stations over a distance of 2000 km.

An additional interesting fact is that,
seen under the microscope, whole areas
of Sargassum were covered by diatoms,
yet the Sargasso Sea is relatively low in
nutrients for plant growth. A recent study
showed that phosphate concentrations in
a patch of Sargassum were two to three
times greater than in the surrounding
water, this enrichment may be due to
diffusion of phosphate from the Sargasso
weed or from the excretions of the animal
population of Sargassum.*

See: E. J. Carpenter: "Diatoms attached
to floating Sargassum in the Western Sar-
gasso Sea"': Phycologia, 9(3/4): 269-274.
Also: CR 2536, 1970.

Also: Umbilicosphaera hulburtiana Gaar-
der 1970. Nytt Mac. Bot. 17(2):1 13-126

—M.S.

Nanymphon grasslei, n.g., n.sp.

J. F. Grassle

•OEA spiders (pycnogonids) are intriguing
bottom dwellers, all legs and little body.
One of them became fairly famous in the
late 1940's and early SOY Photographed at
a depth of 1 800 meters in one of the early
deep-sea photography studies by D. M.
Owen of this Institution, the picture was
published in hundreds of newspapers,
periodicals, books and other publications.
Biologists also know of a delightful spoof
on scientific papers, featuring pycno-
gonids and written by Dr. Joel W.
Hedgpeth.

The new genus and new species, named
for our Dr. J. F. Grassle, was collected
by him in March 1965 during a quantita-
tive investigation of a mud-sand interface
community in Raleigh Bay, N.C., at a
depth of 37 meters. Four other new
species of sea spiders were collected off
North Carolina by workers on board the
R.V. 'Eastward' of the Duke University
Marine Laboratory, proving once again
that much remains to be learned, even of
inshore marine life.

The description of the new species was
given in: "New and little known benthic
pycnogonids from North Carolina", by
L. R/McCloskey. J.nat. Hist., 1967, 1:
1 19-134.

The holotype is USNM 1 13821.

•

*See 'Chain' Cruise — 85. Oceanus, XV(1).
May 1969.

Recently, J. Frederick Grassle has joined the group investigating
the benthos beyond the continental shelf.

17

Psammonsella nobskae, n.g.. n.sp.

Nobska Beach
About 0.35 mm long

N,

OBSKA BEACH is a quartz sand
beach, situated southwest of Woods Hole.
Generations of marine scientists and their
families have swum there, while hundreds
of them, including the pupils of the Woods
Hole Children's School of Science have
collected animal and plant life along the
beach and its rocks.

It is, therefore, a bit surprising that a new
genus and species of life would be found
there. In 1964, the Institution provided a
Fellowship for Mrs. Jeelani Haq of Jamai
College, Pakistan, who spent the summer
collecting mites at the intertidal level of
Nobska Beach. She collected some 200
specimens, belonging to several families,
including 5 genera of the family Rhoda-
caridae, one of which was new to science
and which she named for the lovely beach.

Most, if not all, of the other mites she
found had been described only from other
countries, i.e. Germany, Ireland and South
America.

For the interest of our local friends,
Mrs. Haq stated: "Samples were collected
from the mid-region of the intertidal zone.
After removing the top two inches of sand,
samples were taken to a depth of 1 2 inches.
The sand was collected in a pail and
swirled with seawater to put the inter-
stitial organism into suspension. The water
was then filtered through a fine sieve of
0.074 mm mesh. The residue from the
sieve was examined in fresh condition, and
animals were collected, sorted out and
preserved in 70% alcohol."

Anyone wanting to go mite hunting at
Nobska may also try to find a male
Isobactrus setosus.

Mrs. Haq stated that the male of this
species is exceedingly rare, there was not
a single one in the 34 specimens she
collected.

Holotype: USNM 3-1-2-7.

"Records of some interstitial mites
from Nobska Beach together with a de-
scription of the new genus and species
Psammonsella nobskae of the Family
Rhodacaridae," by Jeelani Haq. Acaro-
logia,t. VII,fasc. 3, 1965. Also: CR 1583,
1965, part 2.

18

The salt pond outlet (foreground)
serves as a mark for the site where
P. nobskae is found on Nobska Beach.

I

While George R. Hampson works on the deep benthos,
he is also one of those alarmed by the effects of local
oil spills.

A view of the cliffs at Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard.

Other individuals at the Institution have
also been honored:

Prochelator hampsoni Hessler 1970 Bull.
Scripps. Oceanogr. 15:143.

Undinella hampsoni Grice 1970 (CR
2144)

Abyla brownia Sears 1953 (CR 602)

named for Joan Brown Hulburt (Mrs.

E.M.)
Undinella gricei Wheeler 1970 Smithson.

Contrib. Zool. 55.
Postligate scbalki Stephenson 1936 (CR

81)
Scottocalanus backusi Grice 1969 (CR

2057)
Wallodinium glaessneri (Cookson and

Eisenack) Loeblich and Loeblich 1968

J. Paleontol. 42(1): 210-213.

Tuberculodinium walli Drugg 1970 Proc.
Biol. Soc. Washington 83(9): 115-122.

Maresearsia praeclara Totton 1954 Dis-
covery Rept. 27: 1-162.

Places in the Woods Hole region have
also been designated, among them:
Ninoe gayheadi Hartman 1965 (CR 1588)
Chaetozone gayheadi Hartman 1965

(CR 1588)
Neopodarka woodsholea Hartman 1965

(CR 1588)
Nonion tisburyensis Butcher 1958 (CR

401) —M.S.

19

'Alvin', the involuntary experimental vessel for a study on biodegradation in 5000 feet of
water with an open hatch as photographed by USNS 'Mizar' in June 1969.

'Alvin' and the Sandwich

While lost for one year in the deep sea, the 'Alvin'

managed to carry out a study in food preservation.

by H. W. JANNASCH and C. O. WIRSEN

One of the two thermos bottles contain-
ing broth. The aluminum 'jacket is
crushed by pressure. The plastic plug
on the inner undamaged stainless steel
cylinder is cracked but in place. A
small amount of seawater had mixed
with the contents.

!

20

A

..T her accidental sinking in October
1968, the research submarine 'Alvin' man-
aged to set up a splendid experiment. When
she went down in 1 500 meters of water, she
took with her a collection of organic ma-
terials that could not have been selected
with more ingenuity for a study on biodeg-
radation in the deep-sea. There were carbo-
hydrates in the form of starch and sugars,
proteins in solid and liquid form, lipids
and even packages of intact plant cells
representing live membrane structures —
in short: a box lunch containing bread
with mayonnaise and ham, bouillon and
fresh apples.

'Alvin' broke surface again in Septem-
ber 1969 after resting almost one year on
the ocean floor. In the excitement over
her successful recovery, the oceanogra-
phers almost overlooked the striking out-
come of 'Alvin' degradation experiment:
the food in the box lunch was practically
untouched by decay, although containing
the usual amount of bacteria.

The broth, although being the most
perishable material, was perfectly palat-
able. Four of us are living proof of this
fact. The apples exhibited a pickled
appearance. But the way the salt water
had penetrated into the fruit tissue indi-
cated that the membrane functions were
hardly affected. Enzymes were still active,
and the acidity of the fruit juice was not
different from that of a fresh apple. The
bread and meat appeared almost fresh
except for being soaked with seawater.

In conclusion, the food recovered
from 'Alvin' after ten months of exposure
to deep-sea conditions exhibited a degree
of preservation that, in the case of fruit,
equaled that of careful storage, and in the
case of starches and proteins appeared to
surpass by far that of normal refrigeration.

Yet, there were many questions. We
did not know under exactly what condi-
tions the food was exposed to seawater
in the open pressure hull. Although it
seemed to be out of the question that a
preservative of any kind could have
leached into the water, a repeat of 'Alvin'
experiment under more defined conditions
seemed to be necessary.

The proposal of sinking another sub-
mersible, the 'Seacliff', neatly filled with
groceries, was met with little enthusiasm.

Except for being soaked with seawater, the sand-
wiches appeared unspoiled. The slices of baloney
were still pink on the inside indicating little activity
of the degradation processes that reduce nitrate
as well. The latter is commercially added to meat
for keeping it from decolorizing.

Furthermore, the buoy group of the De-
partment of Physical Oceanography knew
of more inexpensive ways of taking a
round trip to the ocean floor. With the
ready cooperation of R. H. Heinmiller
and G. Volkmann, we have dropped in
piggy-back fashion several containers with
samples in over 5000 meters of water
fastened to the mooring device of current-
measuring buoys. During 1970 we re-
covered several of such "bio-packs" after
exposure of 2 to 5 months.

The materials we studied in these ex-
periments were, in essence, similar to
those of ths 'Alvin' demonstration, but as
purified compounds and in a form that
permitted quantitative analysis for the
degree of degradation. The sample bottles
were pre-inoculated with bacteria of a
known type or mixed populations. Some
of the bottles were provided with a device
that permitted filling with seawater by
pressure at a certain depth.

In order to measure the microbial con-
sumption and production of dissolved
gases, mainly oxygen and carbon dioxide,
we put samples in large syringes that com-
press and decompress without loss of the
material. All these devices were pressure-
tested. Bottles and syringes were put in
sturdy boxes made from household dish
pans that were perforated for free access
of the surrounding water. A set of controls
was kept at 3°C. in the laboratory. When
the buoys were retrieved by an acoustic

21

release mechanism, the samples of the bio-
pack were fixed for immediate bio- and
radio-chemical analysis.

The results of these experiments proved
that the well-preserved state of the 'Alvin'
lunch was no chance observation. In gen-
eral, the degradation of the various ma-
terials proceeded about 100 times slower
(600 times at the maximum) at deep-sea
conditions than in the controls kept at the
same temperature but at sea-level pressure.

DR. JANNASCH, a senior scientist at
the Institution, obtained his doctoral de-
gree at the University of Gottingen in
1955. Dr. Wirsen is a research associate.

Two points are of considerable interest:
(1) an explanation of the observed phe-
nomenon and (2) its implications.

From earlier laboratory work on the
effect of hydrostatic pressure on bacterial
growth and enzymatic activities, pressure
alone cannot be assumed to account for
the preserving effect. From our present
work on "psychrophilic" bacteria, we ar-
rived at a working hypothesis proposing
a combined pressure-temperature effect.

Psychrophilism is the ability of some bac-
teria to grow relatively fast at low tem-
peratures. If this phenomenon is pressure-
related, low biochemical activities at deep-
sea conditions become explainable.

The implications of the 'Alvin' lunch
experiment are obvious. The deep-sea is
not a suitable environment for dumping
solid organic wastes. It appears that off-
shore disposal would largely eliminate a
quick microbial degradation and mineral-
ization. Substantial amounts of waste
materials might be trapped in the deep-
sea, being removed from natural or tech-
nically enhanced recycling processes, and
might accumulate in an uncontrollable
fashion.

From more recent studies, using the
re-built 'Alvin' again, we know now that
a general slow-down of life processes in
the deep-sea does apply not only to bac-
teria from the sea surface but also to the
indigenous microflora and possibly to
benthic animals as well.

After this needlessly dramatic initiation
of deep-sea microbiology, work is continu-
ing on a broad basis, and we hope for
further cooperation by the remarkable
'Alvin'.

Tfie apples showed a pickled appearance but had neither changed in consistency nor had
they lost any of their fragrance. The 'bio-packs' consist of a variety of sample vessels that
were carefully packed in boxes made from plastic household dish pans. The boxes were
fastened to the mooring chain of deep-sea buoys and incubated for 5 months at a depth up
to 17,000 feet.

11

o.

'NE of the more time consuming tasks
in oceanography is the construction from
raw data, of charts of properties on an
ocean scale. Until this is done much of
the data collected by the research ships
of the oceanographic community gets
published piecemeal, and an up-to-date,
comprehensive, description of the proper-
ties of an ocean is not available to marine
scientists. Considering the number of
marine laboratories peripheral to the North
Atlantic one would have thought that the
properties of the North Atlantic would be
well displayed in various atlases, but this
has not been the case. The work of L. V.
Worthington and W. R. Wright in produc-
ing an atlas displaying the properties of
the deep water of the North Atlantic, and
the work of G. Dietrich* in compiling an
atlas of the IGY data for the northern part
of the North Atlantic is to be commended
because both these atlases are badly
needed.

The North Atlantic Ocean Atlas by
L. V. Worthington and W. R. Wright,
published by the Woods Hole Oceano-
graphic Institution, consists of a set of
charts and sections of the temperature
and salinity of the deep waters of the
North Atlantic, based on data collected
during the period 1954-1962.

The first part of the Atlas consists of
salinity at surfaces of potential tempera-
ture. The range of potential temperatures
covered is from 1°C to 4°C in intervals of
0.2°C which effectively dissects the ocean
from depths of about 1500 meters to the

*Professor Dietrich died suddenly and prema-
turely on 2 October 1972.

bottom. Along with each chart of salinity
is a chart of the depth of the potential
temperature surface at which the salinity
is plotted; and a contour line showing the
geographic limits of water of this tempera-
ture. The latter contour is also placed on
the salinity charts and shows the geo-
graphical constraints on movement of
abyssal water of a particular temperature.
These are the first charts that demonstrate
the existence of the overflows between
Greenland and Iceland, and between Ice-
land and Scotland, and allow the influence
of the overflows on the deep circulation
to be assessed.

The second part of the Atlas is made up
of sections of temperature, salinity, and
oxygen in the Labrador Sea, constructed
from data collected by 'Erika Dan' in the
winter of 1962. These are a useful inclu-
sion in the atlas because sections con-
structed from most of the data used to com-
pile the charts are not available in other
publications, e.g. Fuglister's Atlantic
Ocean Atlas and it would have been unfor-
tunate if the 'Erika Dan' data was not
available in the form of sections.

The drafting and colouring of the Atlas
is excellent. The reader does have to
be careful in relating colours to different
salinity ranges as the colour scheme
changes from one page to the next due to
the system of assigning colours.

The second atlas recently published is
the Atlas of the Hydrography of the
Northern North Atlantic, compiled by
G. Dietrich, and published by the Conseil
International pour 1'Exploration de la
Mer, Service Hydrographique. This atlas

23

contains charts and sections of tempera-
ture, salinity, density, and oxygen, based
on data collected during the IGY Polar
Front Survey in 1958. Two sets of data
have been selected; one consists of data
collected during February, March, and
April; the other consists of data collected
during August, September, and October.
From these two sets, charts and sections
have been drawn to represent the physical
oceanography of the northern North
Atlantic in winter and summer, including
the Norwegian Sea.

The charts display temperature, salinity,
density and oxygen (% saturation), at
standard depths from the surface to the
bottom. In addition there are charts of
dynamic topography of the sea surface
and of bottom temperature. Because stand-
ard depths have been chosen as the sur-
faces on which to contour, the atlas is
most suited for use in studies of the upper

layers of the ocean. Features such as the
Polar Front appear clearly. The percent
saturation of oxygen is presented rather
than the oxygen content. This is useful
for some purposes but makes it difficult to
compare the levels of dissolved oxygen in
this set of data with the levels in other sets.
The atlas also contains vertical sections
of the properties in the charts, again in two
sets, one for winter and one for summer,
which may be used with the charts to gain
a three-dimensional perspective of the
property distributions.

Both atlases are welcome contributions
to the oceanographic literature.

DR. CEDRIC R. MANN has a B.Sc from
the University of New Zealand and a
Ph.D. from the University of British
Columbia. He is presently at the Bedford
Institute in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

Dear Sir:

October 15, 1971

T,

HE contributors to your June issue, dedicated to the memory of Columbus Iselin,
seem to have overlooked Iselin Bank (now Iselin Seamount), a topographic feature
in the Ross Sea near 71°S, 179°W. It was first described by S. Edward Roos in
the Geographical Review for 1937 (27: 574-583). This account falls short of telling
the full story, however, which I heard from Columbus many years later at the
Lubec Oceanographic Centre.

As Columbus told it, one of the deckhands on 'Atlantis' became in some way
involved with a young lady in Falmouth and considered it expedient to change his
home port. This was in 1933, and, perhaps with Columbus' encouragement, he
made contact with the second Byrd Antarctic Expedition and was engaged as a
deckhand on the 'Bear of Oakland.' Upon disclosing his former connection with the
Oceanographic Institution, he was designated Oceanographer of the expedition and
assigned the duty of taking a few cores and keeping track of the output of the
echo-sounder. When the expedition returned to the United States in 1935, he
was retained to prepare the sounding results for publication. Columbus, with the
usual generosity of his time when a former shipmate was involved, helped him put
the data in shape for the Geographical Review, and Iselin Bank was named in
gratitude for the assistance.

Thus, although Columbus' own investigations were all carried out in the North
Atlantic, his name has come to be permanently attached to a prominent ocean
feature in the Pacific sector of the far Antarctic.

Sincerely yours,

John Lyman

Head, Office of Marine Sciences

University of North Carolina

Sea Grant Program.

24

MBL WHOI LIBRARY

UH IfllS L

JAN HAHN APRIL 9, 1913 - JULY 8, 1972

Aficionado of Oceanography . . .

Editor .

— ^ ,-^L. \ \

S

Sailor .

Photographer . . .

An example of Jan's ability to transmit the fascination of oceanography to those about him, in
this instance to a summer course from the Children's School of Science.

Contents

Volume XVI, December, 1972

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

by Jan Hahn

'ALVIN' AND THE SANDWICH

by H. W. Jannasch

and C. O. Wirsen

A REVIEW OF TWO ATLASES

by C. R. Mann

A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

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1 •*•

Published by the

WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHI^ INSTmJTION

WOODS HOLE, MASSACHUSETTS

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