The Means of Dispersal of Bathypelagic Animals in the North and South Atlantic Oceans

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Abstract
The ocean currents in the intermediate water masses of the Atlantic basin, at depths of 1000 to 2000 meters or more, are efficient agents in the wide dispersal of bathypelagic invertebrates and fishes. Some of the same spp. have been collected off the coast of S. Africa and the coast of Greenland, as well as at many intermediate localities, coinciding with the course of the currents. The deep water near Bermuda, where more bathypelagic spp. have been found than in any other part of the oceans, has 3 components of widely separate origins; 1) from the Antarctic; 2) from the Arctic; 3) from the Mediterranean. Hence populations of planktonic animals from all these directions may at times drift through the Bermuda area. At the computed rate of flow it would require only 40 to 50 yrs. to bring a population from the S. Atlantic to this area. It could later be returned to the S. Atlantic or distributed widely in the N. Atlantic. It is concluded that members of a species are associated in groups which collect in eddies or larger masses of relatively stationary water or drift about in the currents generation after generation as long as the regions to which they are carried offer conditions favorable for existence and reproduction.