Change in Fish Assemblage Inhabiting Around Dae Island in Gwangyang Bay, Korea

Changes of fish assemblage inhabiting around Dae Island in Gwangyang Bay, Korea were investigated using a small beam trawl monthly from March 2009 to February 2010. These data were compared with those obtained in previous studies(1990~1991 and 1995~1996) at our study sites. A total of 8,133 fish belonging to 74 species in 38 families were collected. Leiognathus nuchalis, Argyrosomus argentatus, Acentrogobius pellidebilis, Sillago japonica, Apogon lineatus, Thryssa hamiltoni, Repomucenus richardsonii, Pholis nebulosa, Pleuronichthys cornutus, Hexagrammos otakii, and Limanda yokohamae dominated, and these were responsible for 89.5% and 58.9% in the number of individuals and in biomass, respectively. These were primarily small species or early juveniles of larger species. Seasonal variation in both species composition and abundance was large: the peak number of fish species occurred in May and October 2009, whilst both number of individuals and biomass were the highest in May 2009. Fish numbers as well as biomass was lowest in January and February 2010. Seasonal changes in the abundance of fishes corresponded with temperature. Compared with the previous studies, the total number of individuals and biomass per unit area(㎡) were higher, and the predominance of L. nuchalis occurred while abundances of Liparis tanakai were significant decreased. These results seemed to be change of species composition in fish assemblage which was due to variation of annual environmental characteristics in Gwangyang Bay.