Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
A resolute royal tern faces into the wind; its survival depends upon limited breeding sites along the Mid-Atlantic
shore.
Fish species that belong to the cold-temperate, or boreal, province north of Cape Cod and the warm-temper-
ate province south of Cape Hatteras also meet and mingle in these waters on a seasonal basis. Most of the
fishes found here, in fact, are migrants, and a few, like scup, summer flounder, longfin squid, and butterfish,
are endemic to the region. When waters begin to warm in the spring, there is large influx of southern species
such as drums, bluefish, and jacks into the Middle Atlantic area between the capes. At the same time, cold-wa-
ter species such as cod, Atlantic herring, Atlantic mackerel, spiny dogfish, and shad, which had migrated to the
Mid-Atlantic during the winter, now begin moving north. This north-south changing of the guard reverses in
autumn, when water temperatures again begin to drop.
Offshore, sea turtles—loggerhead, green, hawksbill, and Kemp's ridley— ply these waters in summer, while
bottlenose dolphins are often seen cavorting near the coast, from Long Island to Cape Hatteras.
