Late winter larval fish assemblage in the southern East China Sea, with emphasis on spatial relations between mesopelagic and commercial pelagic fish larvae

Species composition and assemblages of ichthyoplankton during summer in the East China Sea

“…As for fish larvae, it is not always possible to identify fish larvae to species level based on morphological characteristics (Chen et al, 2014;Sassa and Konishi, 2015). Many species of fish larvae share similar morphologies.…”

“…Most ichthyoplankton studies conducted in the ECS focused on commercial fish species, such as Japanese Anchovy (Iseki and Kiyomoto, 1997;Kim et al, 2005;Takasuka and Aoki, 2006), Hairtail fish (Kim et al, 2005;Lee and Kim, 2014) and Mackerel (Kasai et al, 2008;Sassa et al, 2016), or in particular areas, such as the Changjiang estuary (Iseki and Kiyomoto, 1997;Wan et al, 2010), the southern ECS Sassa and Konishi, 2015), and the shelf-break region (Okazaki and Nakata, 2007). Moreover, most of them were carried out in either spring or autumn.…”

Comparative reproductive biology of three dominant myctophids of the genus Diaphus on the slope region of the East China Sea

“…A broad continental shelf (<200 m depth) occurs in the western part accounting for approximately 80% of the area of the ECS, contrasting with the deep Okinawa Trough (a maximum depth of 2,716 m) in the eastern part where the oligotrophic Kuroshio flows northeastward (Niino and Emery, 1961;Yamada et al, 2007). Oceanic myctophids occur abundantly in the Kuroshio waters, while pseudoceanic myctophids, adapting to certain habitats of continental slopes, slopes of islands, and seamounts (Hulley and Lutjeharms, 1989;Reid et al, 1991;Gartner et al, 1997), occur dominantly on the ECS shelf and slope (Ozawa and Tsukahara, 1971;Wang and Chen, 2001;Sassa et al, 2004Sassa et al, , 2010Sassa and Konishi, 2015).…”

Interannual variability of larval fish assemblages associated with water masses in winter in the Taiwan Strait during 2007–2013

“…In addition, the within-group similarity was generally lower in the warm KBC assemblage than in the cold MCCW assemblage. The KC provides a relatively warm and stable environment, suitable for numerous mesopelagic fishes and their larvae and the ecological characteristics, which include low abundance, low biomass, and high biodiversity (Sassa and Konishi 2015). By contrast, hydrographic conditions in the cold CCC and MCCW regions are more complex and unstable, and only certain larval fishes can survive these situations; this resulted in higher variations of the dominant taxa in the MCCW assemblage.…”

“…By contrast, hydrographic conditions in the cold CCC and MCCW regions are more complex and unstable, and only certain larval fishes can survive these situations; this resulted in higher variations of the dominant taxa in the MCCW assemblage. Studies have reported that the assemblages in the cold CCC and MCCW are dominated by the larvae of coastal and demersal fishes with lower abundance and species diversity than the warm KC assemblage (Sassa and Konishi 2015;Chen et al 2016).…”