The distributions of common minke whales observed in the East Sea in ten surveys in May of 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2020 were investigated using satellite sea surface temperature (SST) derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS). Most of the minke whales were observed in the waters off the Korean Peninsula at 36-38.5° N, which is expected as the highly productive coastal upwelling area. Yet, no minke whale was observed in 2006 when a relatively larger scale coastal upwelling occurred with SST at 11°C. In 2016 and 2020, the warm water higher than 17°C extended widely in the area, and the minke whales were observed in the offshore waters, deeper than 1,000 m. 87.5% of minke whales observed in May appeared in the SST from 13 to 16°C, and they seemed to avoid relatively high temperatures. This suggests that optimum habitat water temperature of minke whales in May is 13-16°C. The SST in the area had risen 1.67°C from 2003 to 2021, and it was remarkably higher than in other parts of the surrounding areas. The future temperature rising may change the route and timing of the migration of minke whales in the study area.

Pacific herring, Clupea pallasii, a keystone species with significant ecological and commercial importance, is declining globally throughout much of its range. While traditional fishing equipment methods remain limited, new sensitive and rapid detection methods should be developed to monitor fisheries resources. To monitor the presence and quantity of C. pallasii from environmental DNA (eDNA) extracted from seawater samples, a pair of primers and a TaqMan® probe specific to this fish based on mitochondrial cytochrome b (COB) sequences were designed for the real-time PCR (qPCR) assay. The combination of our molecular markers showed high specificity in the qPCR assay, which affirmed the success of presenting a positive signal only in the C. pallasii specimens. The markers also showed a high sensitivity for detecting C. pallasii genomic DNA in the range of 1 pg~100 ng rxn-1 and its DNA plasmid containing COB amplicon in the range of 1~100,000 copies rxn-1, which produced linear standard calibration curves (r2=0.99). We performed a qPCR assay for environmental water samples obtained from 29 sampling stations in the southeastern coastal regions of South Korea using molecular markers. The assay successfully detected the C. pallasii eDNA from 14 stations (48.2%), with the highest mean concentration in Jinhae Bay with a value of 76.09±18.39 pg L-1 (246.20±58.58 copies L-1). Our preliminary application of molecular monitoring of C. pallasii will provide essential information for efficient ecological control and management of this valuable fisheries resource.

진해만에서 출현하는 자어에 대한 계절별 군집 변동을 파악하기 위해 2015년과 2016년의 2월(겨울철), 5월(봄철), 8월(여름철), 그리고 11월(가을철)까지 계절별로 수행하였다. 조사기간 동안 출현한 자어는 종 수준까지 총 24과 28종이 출현하였다. 조사기간 동안 출현한 우점종은 청어(Clupea pallasii), 꼼치(Liparis tanakae), 돛양태과 sp. (Callionymidae sp.), 청보리멸(Sillago japonica), 세줄베도라치(Ernogrammus hexagrammus), 그리고 멸치(Engraulis japonica)로 나타났으며, 이들 6종은 조사기간 중 출현한 자어 전체 출현개체수의 77.6%를 차지하였다. 우점종 중 청어와 꼼치는 2015년과 2016년의 겨울철에 출현한 반면에 청보리멸은 여름철에 출현하였다. 종 다양도 지수는 2월과 8월에 높았고 5월에 낮게 나타났다. 조사기간 동안 출현한 자어의 출현개체수를 바탕으로 nMDS 분석을 실시한 결과 계절에 따른 4개의 그룹으로 구분되었다. 본 연구결과 진해만의 자어 군집은 계절에 따른 수온변화와 산란에 참여하는 어종에 따라서 변동하였으며, 잠도와 칠전도 북부해역에서 높은 출현량을 보여 이 지역이 진해만의 주요 산란장으로 이용되고 있음을 의미한다.