AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

[...] There is a great deal more to be done in the Canadian arctic. Large portions of the area between Alaska and Greenland are still blank on the biological map. Scientific activity in this region, with the exception of the Canadian Arctic expedition and the Fifth Thule expedition, has been very restricted and in part somewhat casual. The zoological collections of the Canadian Arctic expedition added much to the knowledge of the north, but they were not very rich in marine material. [...] For these reasons I was very glad of the opportunity, in 1939, to go as marine biologist on the Canadian Eastern Arctic Patrol, in the Hudson's Bay Company ship "Nascopie". [...]. The work is a study in the Plankton of the coastal water, the fjords and inlets, not the open water. The large oceanographic expeditions have gained much knowledge of the open water and the depths beyond the continental shelves. They carry apparatus designed for such work, and the intimate investigation of the coastal water is left to others. The need for the detailed study of the coastal waters is pointed out by Steuer (1933). Russell (1936) emphasized this amongst other suggestions for the planning of future plankton expeditions. He adds that "especial attention should be paid to a study of the life histories of some of the larger arctic-boreal/ species such as Sagitta elegans and Clione limacina". [...]