Abundance and habitats of marine cladocerans in the Sea of Japan over two decades

Abstract Marine cladocerans are secondary producers in marine neritic ecosystems. To investigate the population dynamics and species-specific habitats of marine cladocerans in the Sea of Japan, marine cladoceran abundance was evaluated in the southern Sea of Japan and the East China Sea-Kuroshio using three mesh-size (0.06, 0.10, and 0.33 mm) plankton nets at several depths (n = 4674) over two decades from 1997 to 2018. We observed seven out of eight species, including Penilia avirostris, Evadne nordmanni, E. spinifera, Pseudevadne tergestina, and Pleopis schmackeri, from > 10% of samples, and Pleopis polyphemoides and Podon leuckartii from