Distribution, abundance and benthic-pelagic coupling of suspended hydroids on Georges Bank

Clytia spp. hydroids (Phylum Cnidaria), typically attached to a substrate during their asexual, polyp stage, have been found in significant numbers within the mesozooplankton on Georges Bank, North Atlantic Ocean. We examined unpublished historical records of the 1939–1941 cruises of the R/V Atlantis and obtained samples at four-study sites on Georges Bank in June/July 1995 in an attempt to (1) quantify the planktonic and benthic distributions of hydroids on Georges Bank, and (2) determine the coupling between benthic and pelagic habitats of this population. We found that planktonic hydroids have a patchy distribution, varying both spatially and temporally (most abundant in summer months, absent in winter). In 1939–1941 the planktonic hydroids were most broadly distributed following a spring (1940) with strong wind events; hydroids were absent from all samples in 1941. In 1995 we found the highest abundance of planktonic Clytia spp. hydroids (6213.5±1343.6 hydranths m−3) in the central crest of the bank, “downstream” in the Georges Bank circulation pattern from sites along the northeast peak of the Bank where large populations of benthic Clytia spp. hydroids were found (up to 6465 hydranths m−2). Our plankton sampling did not show significant numbers of hydroids in the water column at the Northeast peak sites, indicating that large numbers of planktonic hydroids are not being introduced into the Bankʹs circulation patterns from off-Bank sites to the northeast (e.g. Scotian shelf). The source population for planktonic hydroids found in the central region of the Bank is most likely the benthic habitats on the northeast peak of the Bank. We hypothesize, and our limited data suggest, that hydroids are detached from the benthos by storm action or other disturbance, advected clockwise with the mean residual circulation, and concentrated and retained in the central, low-advective region of the Bank.