Interrelationships between the occurrences of pelagic fishes and plankton in coastal fishing grounds have been studied, in two phases, in coastal waters close to Esaki, southwestern Japan Sea, from April through December, 1970. The first phase comprised a general investigation of seasonal changes in the occurrences of plankton and pelagic fishes; the second phase, of an examination of the interrelationships between distribution of pelagic fishes and zooplankton. The results reveal complicated interrelations. For pelagic fishes, the distribution of copepods, their major prey, seems to be of paramount importance. The fishes appeared primarily in close vicinity to dense copepod populations. High aggregations of Noctiluca scintillans or cladoceran species exerted unfavorable effects on the fish=, even in the presence af copepods Apparent interrelationships were also established in regard to seasonal abundance changes of plankton and pelagic fishes. The results obtained differ somewhat from known prey-predator osciIlations postulated by theoretical equations. Alternations in water masses are suggested to act as significant modifying influences.
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