Distribution of indicator species of copepods and chaetognaths in the middle East Sea of Korea and their relationships to the characteristics of water masses

Abstract

Zooplankton samples were collected vertically from different layers with a closing net at 14 stations in the middle East Sea of Korea in February, August and September to study distribution of biological indicators for analysis of water masses. Horizontal and vertical distributions of important species of copepods and chaetognathas known as indicator species were closely related to distributions of different water masses and oceanic fronts. Pleuromamma gracilis, Calanus tenuicornis, Sagitta enflata and Sagitta minima were found to be reliable indicator species to determine warm water mass with warm core, and Calanus cristatus, Calanus tonsus and Sagitta elegans could be used as cold water species for evaluating the movement of cold current from North Korea, and Gaetanus armiger was deep sea water species. Therefore, it was found that North Korean Cold Current down to the south along the coast appeared to be significant in the surface around Chumunjin area, and from here towards the south the cold water containing S. elegans submerged under warm water with S. enflata which were about higher than that of the vicinity and reappeared near Chukpeon area in surface layer. In the layer between loom and 300m depths, distribution of Pleuromamma gracilis and Sagitta bedoti indicated that warm water mass and front zone influenced by the different water systems were formed in northwestern area off Ulreung-do. In layer, the proper cold water could be estimated to be present in the northwestern area off Ulreung-do throughout the survey period by the high abundance of Gaetanus armiger. In August, distributions of S. bedoti, S. enflata and S. minima were valuable index to find oceanic fronts and warm core.