2012 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 110-113
A review on the fauna and the distributional ecology of pelagic chaetognaths in the East China Sea, including the waters near Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait, one of the marginal seas in the North Pacific, are compiled here. Major results are summarized as follows: 1) In total, 30 species with 1 form belonging to 14 genera are listed as the chaetognath fauna with 25 species containing 1 form in 11 genera for the epipelagic, 4 species in 3 genera for the mesopelagic, and 1 species in 1 genus for the bathypelagic layers. 2) Some distributional characteristics of chaetognaths are : (1) Compared to the other domains, meso- and bathypelagic species are scarcely found in large numbers. (2) The noteworthy occurrence of many tropical-neritic species were found in the 1990’s. (3) Flaccisagitta enflata predominates throughout the year in the Kuroshio area and invades towards the Bohai Sea through the Yellow Sea in summer and autumn. (4) Typical indicator species in this domain are Aidanosagitta crassa in the near-shore water and Zonosagitta nagae in the coastal water during winter to spring and F. enflata, Z. bedoti during summer to autumn on the continental shelf, and F. enflata, F. hexaptera, Krohnitta subtilis in the Kuroshio and the offshore- oceanic water. (5) The southern limit of A. crassa distribution is presumed to be attained near Hong Kong in the South China Sea southwards through the Taiwan Strait.
