Department of OCEANOGRAPHY PROGRESS REPORT Ecological Studies of Radioactivity in the Columbia River Estuary and Adjacent Pacific Ocean Norman Cutshall, SCHOOL OF SCIENCE Principal Investigator Compiled and Edited by James E. McCauley Atomic Energy Commission Contract AT(45-1) 2227 Task Agreement 12 OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY RLO 2227-T12-10 Reference 71-18 1 July 1970 through 30 June 1971 ECOLOGICALSTUDIESOF RADIOACTIVITYIN THE COLUMBIA RIVER ESTUARY AND ADJACENTPACIFIC OCEAN Compiled andEdited by James E. McCauley Principal Investigator: NormanCutshall Co-investigators: Andrew G. Carey, Jr. James E. McCauley William G. Pearcy William C. Renfro William 0. Forster Department of Oceanography Oregon State University Corvallis, Oregon 97331 PROGRESS REPORT 1 July 1970 through 30 June 1971 Submitted to U.S. Atomic Energy Commission ContractAT(45-1)2227 Reference 71-18 RLO 2227-T-12-10 July 1971 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A major expense in oceanographic research is "time at sea." Operations on the R/V YAQUINA, R/V CAYUSE, R/V PAIUTE, AND R/V SACAJEWEA were funded by several agencies, with the bulk coming from the National Science Founda- tion and Office of Naval Research. Certain special cruises of radiochemical or radioecological import were funded by the Atomic Energy Commission, as was much of the equipment for radioanalysis and stable element analysis. Support for student research, plussome of the gamma ray spectometry facilities, were provided by the Federal Water Quality Administration. We gratefully acknowledge the role of these agencies insupport of the research reported in the following pages. We also wish to express our thanks to the numerous students and staff who contributed to the preparation of thisprogress report. NOTICE The progress report that follows includes research results ranging from unproved ideas to scientific papers published during the tenure of this contract. The end of the contract year finds several facets of our work in various states of preparation, therefore the reader is cautioned that all except the published papers are subject to revision. iii PROFESSIONAL STAFF Norman Cutshall, Ph.D Principal Investigator Research Associate Radioecology Andrew G. Carey, Jr., Ph.D Co-Investigator Assistant Professor Of Oceanography Benthic Ecology William 0. Forster Co-Investigator Assistant Professor of Oceanography Radiochemistry James E. McCauley, Ph.D Co-Investigator Associate Professor of Oceanography Benthic Ecology William G. Pearcy, Ph.D. Co-Investigator Professor of Oceanography Nekton Ecology William C. Renfro, Ph.D. Co-Investigator Assistant Professor of Oceanography Radioecology TECHNICAL STAFF Norman Farrow Instrument Technician Carolyn Kuehlthau, B.S. Benthic Ecology Assistant in Oceanography Peter Kalk, B.S. Nekton Ecology Assistant in Oceanography Michael Kyte, B.S. Benthic Ecology Assistant in Oceanography 1. Lauren Larsen, B.S. Gamma Ray Spectrometry Research Associate David L. Stein, B.S. Nekton Ecology Assistant in Oceanography Gerald Wagner, B.S. Atomic Absorption Assistant in Oceanography Spectrometry Julie Weills, B.S. Benthic Ecology Assistant in Oceanography Show Wu, B.S. Radiochemistry Assistant in Oceanography v ECOLOGICAL STUDIES OF RADIOACTIVITY IN THE COLUMBIA RIVER ESTUARY AND ADJACENT PACIFIC OCEAN TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION .. ... 1 Marine Radioecology at Oregon State University . 2 Stable Element Analyses - Larsen,Wagner . 4 Rad i oana l ys i s- . Larsen .. 5 II. STUDENT PARTICIPATION . .. 7 THESES III. .. ... ... 13 A Comparative Study of the Infauna of the Central Oregon Continental Shelf-Bertrand ... 13 Swimbladder Morphology and Buoyancy of Northeastern Pacific Myctophids-Butler. 14 Determination of 65Zn Specific Activity in Various Tissues of the California SeaMussel,Mytilus californianus- Larsen ...... ..... 14 The Copepods in a Collection from the Southern Coast of Oregon, 1963 - Lee . .. 15 Growth of a SeaUrchin,Allocentrotus fragilis, at Different Depths off the Oregon Coast- Sumich . 16 The Concentration and Oxidation State of Chromium in Sea Water - Stanford. .. .. 17 Non-Biological Uptake of Zinc-65 froma Marine Nutrient Medium - Toml i nson. ... 18 Zinc-65 Uptake by a Bacterium Isolated from Alder Slough, Columbia River Estuary - Tonjes . 18 IV. PAPERS PRESENTED AND MEETINGS ATTENDED . 21 V . RESEARCHI N PROGRESS . ... ..... ... 23 A. Radiochemistry . ... ... 23 B. Radiobiology . .... ... .. 30 vi C. Nekton Ecology . 31 . D. Benthos . 32 V I. RESEARCH COMPLETED. 35 Non-BiologicalUptake of Zinc-65 froma Marine Algal Nutrient Medium - Tomlinson, Renfro . 37 Food Sources of Sublittoral, Bathyal, and Abyssal Asteroids in the Northeast Pacific Ocean off Oregon - Carey . 50 Recent Ophiuroidea Occurring off Oregon, U.S.A. - Kyte . 65 A Redescription of Ophicantha rhachophora Clark and a Description of Sp.N. (Echinodermata: Oph i u ro i dea) - Kyte. 84 Biological Fouling on Totem-1, ADeep-Sea SparBuoy - McCauley, Kyte, Stein, Carey . 88 A Notacanthid Macdonaldia challengeri Collected offthe Oregon Coast - Stein, Butler. .. 93 Radioactivity in Juvenile Columbia River Salmon: A Model to Interpret Movement and Feeding Habits - Romberg, Renfro . 95 Specific Activity of Iron-55 in Pacific Salmon - Jennings, . 105 Osterberg . ... Zinc-65 Specific Activity in arM t ilus californianus Tissues - . 118 Larsen, Renfro, Cutshall . Zinc-65 in Oregon-Washington Continental Shelf Sediments - . 129 Cutshall, Renfro,Evans, Johnson . Seasonal Radionuclide Inventories in Alder Slough,an Ecosystem in the Columbia River Estuary - Renfro . 149 The Rate of Zinc Uptake by Dover Sole in the NortheastPacific Ocean: Preliminary Model and Analysis - Vanderploeg . 163 Size Structure and Growth Rate ofEuphausiapacifica off . 181 the Oregon Coast - Smiles, Pearcy . Growth and Reproduction of the Lanternfish Stenobrachius . 189 leucopsarus - Smoker, Pearcy . Slide Rule Conversion of Per Cent Transmittance toAbsorbance - . 202 La r sen . .. vii Two New Parasites (Protozoa:Telosporea) from the Spatangoid- Urchin Brisaster latifrons- Brownell, McCauley. .... 203 Determination of Movement and Identity of Stocks of Coho Salmon in the Ocean using the Radionuclide Zinc-65- Loeffe l,Forster . ..... .. 210 PUBLICATIONS VII . .... ... 223 INTRODUCTION This annual report describes progress inmarine radioecological studies under USAEC Contract Number AT(45-1)2227Task Agreement 12 during the period 1 July 1970 through 30 June 1971. This contract number replaces USAEC Contract Number AT(45-1)1750 which started 1 June 1962. Although the basic report format has not been greatly changed from previousyears, a major emphasis is now being givento inclusion of materials that are well along the way toward publication. Papers submitted or accepted for publication during the past yearare included in their present form along with reprints of published papers. Research in progress, which has previously been reported in detail, is briefly describedwithout presentation of data. Sections on routine laboratory operationsand methodology are much reduced. The thirteen chapters whichwe have contributed to Bioenvironmental Studies of the Columbia River Estuary and AdjacentOcean RegionA.T. Pruter and 6.L. Alverson, eds.) are not reprintedthis year, although some effort has been given to their revision and tothe technical problems of getting them published. Hopefully, that book will be published duringthe next contract period. Consequently, this year'sreport stresses what has been accom- plished somewhat more than what is beingaccomplished. The past year has been productive. The reprint/preprint section includes 16 papers. In addition, one Ph.D. and seven master's theses have been completed. Several additional papers are in rough manuscript form, but are not ready for submissionto a journal at the time of this report. The final shutdown of the Hanfordreactors has stimulated several new research projects which are reflected in the "Researchin Progress" section. Once again we have attemptedto categorize our efforts as: Radioecology, Radiobiology, Nekton,and Benthos, although such a classifi- cation is somewhat artificial. During the past year our research team and their areas of specialization havebeen Dr. Cutshall (geochemistry), Dr. Renfro (radiobiology), Dr.Forster (radiochemistry), Dr. Pearcy (nekton ecology), and Drs. Carey andMcCauley (benthic ecology). Dr. Cutshall has been responsible formost of the administrative chores and Dr. McCauley has edited this report. Dr. Forster spent two months lastsummer on the project before returningto the Marine Biological Program at the Puerto Rican Nuclear Center at Mayaguez. 2 MARINE RADIOECOLOGY AT OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY CHRONOLOGY Marine radioecology at OSU began in the early1960's. In early 1961 Charles Osterberg demonstrated that neutron induced radionuclides from the Hanford plant could be readily measured in marine organisms collected off the Oregon coast.Three Atomic Energy Commission research contracts were soon initiated:Contract AT(45-1)1726, Species Composition and Distribu- tion of Marine Nekton in the Pacific Ocean off Oregon, withDr.William Pearcy as principal investigator began inSeptember,1961;In June, 1962, Radioanalysis of Oceanic Organisms in the Pacific Ocean offOregon,AT(45-1) 1750, was initiated with Dr. WayneV.Burt as principal investigator and Charles Osterberg asco-investigator;Contract AT(45-1)1758, Ecological and Radioecological Study of the Benthos in the Pacific Ocean off Oregon, began inFebruary,1963 withDr.AndrewCarey,Jr. as principal investiga- tor and Drs. McCauley