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Composition and Seasonal Variation of Chaetognaths in the Coastal Waters of Kaoshiung and Liu-chiu Yu Island

Abstract
There are 22 species of chaetognaths belonging 11 genera and 4 families found in coastal waters around the Kaohsiung and Liuchiu Yu Island from March 1997 to February 1998. The average abundance of chaetognaths was 2527 ¡Ó1659 ind./100m3. The 5 most dominant species were Flaccisagitta enflata, Aidanosagitta crassa, Sagitta bipuncata, Ferosagitta ferox and Serratosagitta pacifica, and comprised > 95% of total chaetognaths. Fl. efnlata was the most common and abundance species, its number occupied 70% of total chaetognaths and occurred in every station. These dominant species showed significant seasonal succession, in that, Fl. Enflata could be found in all seasons, while S. bipuncata was found only in fall and winter.
Most of chaetognaths found in this study were pelagic, tropical and temperate species, and most of them are widely distributed in the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Indian ocean (50% of total species), and in the Indian and the Pacific ocean (41% of total species).
In terms of ecological distribution patterns, warm euryhaline species (i.e. Fl. Enflata and Fe. ferox), and warm hyperhaline species (i.e. S. bipuncata and Se. pacifica) dominated in this study areas.
The abundance of chaetognaths was higher in fall (4721 ¡Ó8435 ind./100m3) and the lower in spring (1077 ¡Ó995 ind./100m3). The horizontal distribution of chaetognaths was apparently influenced by the runoff of Kaohsiung Habor and Kaoping River, and the peak abundance was usually found in the front of Kaoping river plume. Most chaetognaths (over 60% of total amount) were found in the surface waters (0-5 m), and its abundance abruptly decreased with depth.
The scales of day/night vertical migration of chaetognaths were small (generally less than 50 m). Three types of vertical migration were distinguished in this study: Nocturnal migration (i.e. Fl. Enflata and Se. pacifica). Reverse migration (i.e. S. bipuncata ), and Non-migration (i.e. Fe. ferox). The vertical distribution and the distance of vertical migration of most chaetognaths, however, varied seasonally.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0908100-140335
Date08 September 2000
CreatorsWang, Kai-Tin
ContributorsJiang-Shiou Hwang, Chang-tai Shin, WEN- TSENG LO
PublisherNSYSU
Source SetsNSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive
LanguageCholon
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0908100-140335
Rightsunrestricted, Copyright information available at source archive

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