It was determined on the basis of data on species composition and distribution that ichthyoplankton in the Sea of Japan within the exclusive economic zone of Russia was represented in October 1995 and September 2001 by 13 species. Anchovy Engraulis japonicus and saury Cololabis saira were the most abundant and widely distributed. The area of distribution of anchovy larvae and juveniles was great, but was restricted mostly to subtropical waters. The larvae and juveniles of saury were captured to the west of the frontal interface in the waters of subarctic structure. The character of the distribution of early progeny suggests that the spawning of saury in summer ran in the economic zone of Russia. The early progeny of saury was absent in the zone of Japan filled with subtropical waters. Because of peculiarities of spawning strategy of the spawners, the regions of distribution and maximum concentrations of their larvae and juveniles did not overlap and were associated with different water masses. The species composition of larvae and young fishes collected with the Maruchi-Ami fry net was more diverse in comparison to the fish-egg net IKS-80. The parameters of the catches of both nets on conversion to the filtered volume of water were comparable only in the regions with increased concentrations of larvae and juveniles. The fry net was not very efficient for calculating recruitment in the dispersed autumn aggregations.