Ichthyofaunistic Biogeography of the East Sea: Comparison between Benthic and Pelagic Zonalities

An ichthyofauna analysis of the East Sea using quantitative investigation procedures for latitudinal variations of the species richness and clustering of the species list is presented to illustrate the application of the adopted geographical scaling (less than 1:10,000,000) which provides a principal opportunity for common benthic and pelagic biogeographical zonation. The distribution of both pelagic and benthic marine fish biota at a scale of biosphere (or its major sections) was highly influenced by spatial nonuniformity of hydrological structure associated with the various water circulations and frontal zones. Following zoogeographical zonations were established for the East Sea: Osaka, East Korea, Primorye, North Primorye, Northern East Sea, Uetsu, Tsugaru, Soya and West Sakhalin.