Well, let me start by saying I would love to see a list of the Gulf of
Maine species from your Placopecten trawling days!  At some point, I would
love to create a really expansive list of our area with even less
constraints.  However, one must start somewhere in making any list and no
matter how much we like to think our “area” demarcation points are
objectively scientific, they ultimately all have shades of arbitrary
subjectivity.  In some ways, when Brian and I sat down to discuss what
areas to cover in our list, we could have just chose “Massachusetts.”  One
of the main motivating factors for our “New England Area” list is that we
wanted one that covers the primarily southern species whose ranges stop at
southern Cape Cod, and the primarily northern species that stop at
northern Cape Cod.  However, I knew “Massachusetts” would omit some
southern species that range only as far north as New York, and a few artic
species that only reach Maine.  Now one could keep expanding the limits
further, as there are certainly a set of species that only make it as far
north as New Jersey, and I’m sure some that stop at Nova Scotia.  However,
in trying to complete a list that is going to be very long as it is, one
must drop the hammer somewhere.  This is particularly true when you
consider that Brian and I do plan to expand the bare bones list into a
more detailed collecting list (and if all goes well a book).  Much like
Emerson and Jacobsen chose a list of species to cover in “Seashells of the
New York City Area” that actually was useful, for collectors North
Carolina to Massachusetts (which of course was reflected in the re-titling
of the book later on), our list will certainly be useful for collectors
North Carolina to E. Canada.  But as the specific direction for this
initial list, we have chosen NY to ME.
      Another practical consideration for our chosen demarcation reflects
Brian’s and my own personal collecting experience.  We both are based in
Massachusetts, and our own expertise really disappears past the lines
we’ve chosen.  In fact Maine is weakest for both of us, and it only gets
worse going even farther north (so as an aside, I really implore those
Maine collectors to help us out here!).  As for the beach versus non-beach
choice, this reflects a few considerations.  For starters, we want this
initial list to serve the purpose of directing collectors to shells one
has any chance to find if one doesn’t own his or her own boat or be lucky
enough to have connections to trawlers and/or lobstermen.  In this way, we
hope this particular list will serve the interests of both hardcore and
casual collectors alike.  Further, as I’ve already explained, to keep the
list manageable, one needs to draw lines in the sand.  Its true, the line
at Eastport seems foolish if one was to include all those offshore
possibilities in waters just as close to Nova Scotia as Maine, but if you
keep it on the beach, the demarcation is less foolish. As close as the
species list for Maine and eastern Canada probably is, I bet it is not
exactly the same.  So again, one then just needs to draw the line
somewhere (much like Bousfield did when he chose to focus on “Canadian
Atlantic Seashells” and not “Northeastern Seashells”).
     So there you go, my soliloquy defending the list as it is.  I would
still love to see your deep water gulf of Maine list though.  For one
thing, as a collector of northwestern Atlantic shells, I don’t personally
draw the line at Eastport or the beach and couldn’t possibly get enough
information on our collecting area.  Further, as I mentioned, some day I
hope to expand this initial list into a much larger one covering a larger
area and including deep water shells.  So please send it my way at
[log in to unmask]
From the also white, not quite as North,
Kevin



Why restrict yourself to "beaches", and why not include the Gulf of
Maine as a whole?  I could compile a decent list of what is found in the
Gulf of Maine from my Placopecten trawling days, and a study the Ecology
Action Center in HAlifax did.  Seems quite arbitrary to cut off your
list at at the border, which doesn't mark any natural barrier at all,
and to stay on the shore instead of going out to the edge of the shelf.

FRom the melting white North,
Ross.

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