DISTRIBUTION OF OTOLITHS IN SURFICIAL SEDIMENTS OF THE US ATLANTIC CONTINENTAL-SHELF AND SLOPE AND POTENTIAL FOR RECONSTRUCTING HOLOCENE FISH STOCKS

We examined more than 1100 surface sediment samples from the Atlantic continental margin of the United States to determine the feasibility o f using fossil fish otoliths as diagnostic tools in reconstructing pal eoenvironments and latitudinal distribution of fish stocks during the Holocene. Although 63% of the 1107 samples collected were from shelf a reas (<140 m), the total number of shelf-derived otoliths represents o nly 0.3% of the entire sampled assemblage. The majority of of otoliths occurred on the continental slope (400-2000 m), with a maximum concen tration in sediments at 500 to 600-m water depth. Otoliths of the most commonly occurring species, Ceratoscopelus maderensis, exhibit a mark ed distributional boundary just south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina (33 degrees N), which mimics the distribution of their living counter parts. North of this boundary, C. maderensis constitutes greater than 70% of the preserved otolith assemblage, whereas more southerly region s contain no otoliths of this species. Although C. maderensis typicall y migrates diurnally over a depth of 300-600 m, otoliths taken from li ve-captured C. maderensis exhibit Delta(14)C values comparable to that of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) of surface seawater in the st udy area. Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon analyses of cooccu rring otoliths and planktonic foraminifera from a sediment core collec ted south of Martha's Vineyard (40 degrees 15'N 70 degrees 51'W, 265 m ) demonstrate temporal concordance throughout the Holocene. Otoliths a ppear to be viable, underutilized paleoceanographic tools. Specimens a re found in sufficient abundance to permit temporal reconstructions of the distribution of C. maderensis and potentially several other icthy ospecies along the U.S. Atlantic continental margin.