Season-depth relations in subtidal meiofauna of Cape Cod Bay

Subtidal sands (mean phi ≤4) of Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts were censused for meiofauna (metazoans ≤2 mm length) by analyzing 72 sediment cores collected from 1966 to 1969 by the Systematics Ecology Program, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, during its Biotic Census of the Cape Cod Bay benthos. Highest density was 17,085 per 10 cm², found at 26 m water depth in winter. Groups showing significant seasonal, fluctuation in density at given depth interval(s) were: total meiofauna 0–7 m; Harpacticoida 0–7 m, 21–41 m; nauplii 0–7 m; Turbellaria 0–7 m, 14–21 m; Kinorhyncha 14–21 m, 21–41 m; Polychaeta 0–7 m, 14–21 m; Pelecypoda 0–7 m. Generally, density peaks showed a time lag at greater depths.