bight

The animals also thrive in the Cold Pool, a band of cold near-bottom water that streams through the lower regions of this section of the New York-New Jersey Bight.

In the Mid-Atlantic Bight, the team inferred that there is food availability, given the high number of leatherbacks that displayed feeding-like behavior year after year.

The South Atlantic Bight appears to support several stages of the migration cycle: nesting, post-nesting foraging, and overwintering.

Previous research in the area indicates that blooms of cannonball jellyfish occur nearshore in the South Atlantic Bight primarily during the spring, which coincides with leatherbacks overwintering and nesting stages of their migration cycle.

With impending developments, particularly the construction of offshore wind farms in the Mid-Atlantic Bight and Southern New England regions, the findings serve as a relevant guide for conservation managers to minimize impacts on this endangered species.