Species Composition and Structure of Ichthyoplankton of the Northern Part of the Sea of Japan in Summer of 2017

Abstract

The ichthyoplankton of the upper epipelagic zone (0–50 m) was studied in the northern part of the Sea of ​​Japan in July–August 2017. Eggs of seven fish species and larvae of five fish species from five families were recorded off the coast of Primorye; eggs of six species from five families and larvae of 12 species from seven families, in the Strait of Tartary. Eggs and larvae of four species of the Pleuronectidae family (Limanda punctatissima, Glyptocephalus stelleri, Cleisthenes herzensteini, and Acanthopsetta nadeshnyi) prevailed everywhere. Off the coast of Primorye, Cl. herzensteini dominated, and in the Strait of Tartary, L. punctatissima. In comparison with the results of the Kuril-Sakhalin expedition performed the late 1940s, the eggs of pelagic fish species, such as Engraulis japonicus, Cololabis saira, and Scomber japonicus, was found in small quantities and only in the surface water layer. The results allow us to report on slight changes in the species composition relative to the middle of the last century, on the one hand, and significant changes in the dominant species, on the other.