Chaeturichthys Stigmatias Research Articles

Seasonal variation in species composition of fish in the estuary of Saemangeum water in the western coast of Korea was determined using seasonal samples collected by an otter trawl from April 2001 to February 2002. Species compositions did not differ significantly among the 4 stations (p>0.05, Wilcoxon signed-rank test). The cumulative number of species and species diversity (H') approached asymptote after four 30-min trawl hauls. Therefore 30-min trawl samples from each of the four stations were pooled to represent each season. A total of 45 species 2758 individuals and 30,346.8 g of fish were collected during the study period. Of the fish collected Leiognathus nuchalis, Synechogobius hasta, Neosalanx jordani, Konosirus punctatus and Chaeturichthys stigmatias predominated in abundance accounting for <TEX>$68\%$</TEX> of the total number of individuals. Seasonal variation of fish abundance showed a similar trend to those of the other western coastal waters of Korea. The resident species were collected only in spring and autumn. Number of species and biomass were highest in summer due to the catch of many migrating species. In winter catch amount was low, and only 7 species were collected.. Brackish water fishes were more abundant in the study area, and Johnius grypotus and Cynoglossus joyneri were not premominated compared to the other coastal waters. This difference in species compositions may be related to the lower salinity in this estuarine habitat than in the other western coastal waters of Korea.