The Chaetognatha of the Inshore Waters of North Carolina

Plankton samples wcrc t,akcn along the coast and in the sounds of North Carolina to determine the inshore distribul ion of the Chact~ognatha. Five species were found within ten miles of the coast. The large northern sounds with water of reduced salinity do not appear to support an appreciable chaetognath populalion. SarJitta hispida and 8. tenuis, the two characteristic inshore spccics, wcrc common in the small bays and sounds south of Yamlico. Cape Hatteras with the colder Virginian water to the north appears to be a barrier to the northward occurrcncc of S. hispida. A more concentrated poprilation of chaetognaths was found inshore t,han collections made a few years earlier indicated for the offshore waters. The same five species wore also found along the west coast, of Florida in an earlier study.