Journal of Environmental Biology

A short note on a euphausiid, Euphausia pacifica, an important food source to demersal fishes in Uljin area, the eastern coast of Korea

Jinho Chae^*1, Changhoon Han¹, Jae Hac Lee² and Jae Sang Hong³

¹Korea Institute of Coastal Ecology, 205-1 Juan 1 dong, Nam-gu, 402-835 Incheon, South Korea
²Marine Environment Research Department, Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute,
Ansan P.O. Box 29, Seoul 425-600, South Korea
³Department of Oceanography, Inha University, 402-751 Incheon, South Korea

(Received: February 22, 2007; Revised received: December 27, 2007;  Accepted: January 11, 2008)

Abstract: Gut contents of two species of demersal fishes, Pleurogrammus azonus and Dasycottus steiger were examined to understand the importance of a euphausiid, Euphausia pacifica as prey of demersal fishes at coastal waters off Uljin, the eastern Korea where aggregations of large amounts of the euphausiids were found. Euphausiids were significantly important food source to the species of fishes examined. All of the stomachs of P. azonus examined contained euphausiids (% of a food item frequency occurred, F = 100%) in March and June 2003. Individual numbers of euphusiids in the guts ranged from 10 to 540 individuals per gut. Percents of individual number of food item were 99.60 and 99.96 for euphausiids in March and June 2003, respectively. The guts of D. steiger also frequently contained euphausiids (F = 86.67 and 79.20% in October 2002 and June 2003, respectively), while amphipods (F = 36.67% and 16.17%,) and other fishes (F = 33.33% and 45.80%) were also often observed. Pleurogrammus azonus preferred larger euphausiids with size range 16.9 -28.4 mm, while the range of euphausiids distributed in the ambient water column was much broader (from eggs to adults).

Key words: Dermersal fishes, Dasycottus steiger, Pleurogrammus azonus, Gut contents, Euphausia pacifica

PDF of full length paper is available with author (jinhochae@gmail.com)

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