Gulf of Maine Landscapes: Banks and Ledges



Bluefish searching near the seafloor for prey in Stellwagen basin	Sea urchin feeds on encrusting algae, amidst sponge colony	Dense aggregation of frilled anemones cover a boulder face	Wolffish have strong jaws and crushing teeth to ingest shellfish and urchins	The cusk, a member of the cod family, uses boulder reefs for shelter
The goosefish, a species of angler fish, has a flattened body and camoflauge coloration in order to ambush it's prey	The goosefish can prey on relatively large organisms like this skate	A school of herring swimming in dense aggregation	Sculpin coloration often resembles its surroundings, as seen with this longhorn in a field of palmate sponges	Smooth sunstar searching the gravel bottom for prey
Juvenile haddock seeking refuge from the bottom currents alongside a small boulder	Longhorn sculpin have a characteristic spine that extends from their cheek across the gill slit	Burrowing anemones extend their tentacles to capture food from the water column	Two male ocean pout compete to mate with a female	Young Acadian redfish utilize shelter, such as this field of burrowing anemones
Sand lance emerge from shelter in loose sand, schooling for protection from predators	Blood star creeps along the benthos, leaving a trail in the sand	Spiny sunstar creeps from sandy bottom to the base of a boulder	Winter flounder have the ability to change color in accordance with their surroundings	Leopard skate has distinctive dark rosettes on its back


Ocean pout can be found across a range of habitats	Large boulders provide a sturdy habitat for a variety of attached benthic invertebrates	This northern red anemone has stinging cells (nematocysts) on its tentacles to stun and kill prey	Ocean pout spread their pectoral fins and raise their head to appear larger to intruders	Blue coloration in the American lobster, as seen here, is a genetic rarity
Cunner finds shelter in burrow under a boulder	Waving tentacles of anemone illustrate the strong bottom current	Skates undulate their pectoral fins to swim over the seafloor	Cunner swimming through branches of a palmate sponge, searching for small prey	Rock crab sidewinding across the sand-covered seafloor
Scallops swimming across the seafloor by rapidly adducting their valves	Winter flounder swimming over a cobble seafloor	Wolffish replace their teeth once a year like this toothless individual in a crevice	Goosefish lies in waiting for potential prey to approach	Lobsters make temporary sand depressions as shelter while migrating across sand habitats