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Total (living and dead) foraminifera in 194 sediment samples from the Atlantic inner shelf, between the Georgia-Florida border and Cape Canaveral, were studied to determine the distribution of principal assemblages. North of 29°10^primeN (vicinity of Daytona Beach), the inshore zone contains a typical assemblage with relatively low species diversity, dominated by Elphidium and Ammonia. Seaward of this zone, to the limit of sample coverage (23 km offshore), there are two interspersed assemblages, both more diverse than the inshore assemblage. One assemblage, dominated by Elphidium and Quinqueloculina, is found mostly on medium to coarse sand; the other, an Elphidium/Quinqueloculina/Cibicides assemblage, predominates on fine sand substrates. From 29°10^primeN south to Cape Can veral, few samples contain assemblages characteristic of the northern sector. The inshore assemblage contains increasing numbers of Quinqueloculina while the offshore zone contains mainly a Elphidium/Quinqueloculina/Hanzawaia assemblage. In the inshore zone, several species more characteristic of the fauna farther seaward appear in the samples. Available evidence suggests that this occurrence is primarily the result of onshore transport of tests rather than changes in inshore environmental factors.

Because of the irregular shelf topography of the study region, depth and distance seaward are not as directly related as on flatter shelves, making it possible to compare the relative importance of these factors to assemblage composition. This comparison shows that in both sectors there is a significantly greater correspondence to distance offshore than to water depth.

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