COMPARISON OF EUTHECOSOMATOUS PTEROPODS IN THE PLANKTON AND SEDIMENTS OFF BARBADOS, WEST INDIES

The euthecosomatous pteropod fauna of Barbados plankton wascompared with euthecosome shells occurring in recent sediments.Twenty species of euthecosomes were collected in the same relativeabundance in both provinces. Differences in the average sizesof Spiratella inflata and Creseis virgula conica, the most commonspecies were not statistically significant although differencesin the size-frequency histograms were noted. It is concludedthat euthecosomes deposited in the upper sediment layers offBarbados accurately reflect the species composition and relativeabundance of euthecosome species in the plankton. ¹Supported by a Postgraduate Scholarship from the National ResearchCouncil of Canada and NRC Grant No. A5248 to Dr. C.M. Lalli. ²Present address: Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University,Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.