• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.15-25
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• 2012

Time series of ocean climate indices and catch records were used to identify the alternation patterns of pelagic fish populations in relation to climate regime shifts. During 1910-2008, an orderly alternation of dominant pelagic fish groups was observed in the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC; Yellow Sea-East China Sea-East Sea/Japan Sea) and Kuroshio-Oyashio Current (KOC; Northwestern Pacific) regions. After the collapse of herring fishery in the late 1920s, the sardine (A group) dominated in the 1930s, 3 other species (C group; Pacific saury, jack mackerel, and anchovy) dominated in the 1950s-1960s, chub mackerel (B group) dominated in the 1970s, and then sardine (A group) dominated again during cool regime in the 1980s. As sardine biomass decreased in association with the climate regime shift that occurred in the late 1980s, catches of C group immediately increased after the regime shift and remained at high levels during warm regime in the 1990s. Alternations of dominant fish groups occurred 6 times between 1910 and 2008. The dominant period of the 7 species lasted for 10-20 years. The catch of Pacific sardine in the TWC and KOC regions showed a negative correlation with the catch of the other 5 species (Pacific herring, anchovy, jack mackerel, Pacific saury, and common squid), suggesting that the abundance of the 5 species is strongly affected by the abundance of Pacific sardine in relation to the climate regime shifts. The total catch level of the 7 species in the KOC region was generally higher than that in the TWC region before 1991 but was lower after 1992, suggesting that the fish populations in the Pacific side are shifted to the TWC region by zonal oscillation of the oceanic conditions in relation to the climate regime shift in the late 1980s.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.307-316
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• 2003

Fish assemblage structure in a sheltered shallow water in the Southern Coast of Korea was examined monthly. Sampling was conducted in Doam Bay using a beam trawl between March 2001 and February 2001. A total of 53 fish species from 33 families were caught. Pinkgray goby (Chaeturichthys hexanema), ponyfish (Leiognathus nuchalis) and yellowfin goby (Acanthogobius favimanus) were the most frequent species, comprised 67.4％ of the total numbers captured. Snailfish (Liparis tanakai), yellowfin goby (Acanthogobius flavimanus) and pinkgray goby (Chaeturichthys hexanema) represented 50.8％ of the total biomass. While total abundance (number of individuals) and biomass were high in autumn and winter, species richness (number of species) and diversity were high in spring. Cluster analysis, based on monthly abundance data of the 14 most frequent species, showed that the species were separated into three different groups. Group A composed of pinkgray goby, yellowfin goby, robust tonguefish (Cynoglossus robustus) and scaly hairfin anchovy (Setipinna taty), which were year-round residents, and devil flathead (Onigocia spinosa), Red dragonet (Repomucenus lunatus) and ponyfish, which were abundant in autumn, group B surmullet (Upeneus japonicus), hairtail (Trichiurus lepturus) and gaff-topsail goby (Cryptocentrus filifer), which were abundant in summer, and group C grassfish (Liparis tanakai), spotted velvefish (Erisphex pottii), chameleon goby (Tridentiger trigonocephalus) and Richardson dragonet (Repomucenus richardsonii), which were abundant in winter and spring. A seasonal homogeneity of fish assemblage indicates that overall fish assemblage in Dom Bay is largely controlled by year-round residents.