Jack W. Jossi and Joseph Kane
Norheast Fisheries Science Center, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA

Key words: zooplankton, northwest Atlantic, U.S. Northeast Shelf, MARMAP.

Abstract.
Standardized zooplankton monitoring of the northeast continental shelf of the United States began in 1977 under the Marine Resources Monitoring, Assessment, and Prediction (MARMAP) Program. This document contains portrayals of mean abundances for 10 of the most ubiquitous zooplankton taxa (plus total zooplankton) for six seasons based on 6192 samples collected from 1977 through 1997. These collections, captured with 333 micron nets, were dominated by three copepod species: Calanus finmarchicus, Centropages typicus, and Pseudocalanus minutus. These three species, on average, accounted for 46% of the total number of organisms present in the samples. Of the three species, C. typicus was the most abundant in the zooplankton community. This warm water omnivore dominated ecosystem waters from late summer through early winter. The herbivores C. finmarchicus and Pseudocalanus minutus utilized the spring phytoplankton bloom to dominate early and late spring samples.