A study for species composition and abundance of the fish assemblages in the eastern Jinhae Bay, Korea was conducted using monthly larval collection by a RN80 net from October, 2010 to September, 2011. Of all the 45 species collected, the dominant species were Clupea pallasii, Hexagrammos otakii, Pholis fangi and Engraulis japonicus. Clupea pallasii, Hexagrammos otakii, Pholis fangi in winter and examined Engraulis japonicus, Acanthogobius sp., Parablennius yatabei, and Tridentiger trigonocephalus in summer appeared seasonally. Popoulation characteristic by stations was not clear seasonally and spatially, and appearance aspects of dominant species were similar by stations. Compared our results with other studies in the South Sea, dominant species and their appearance period were similar to their spawning period. Finally, the appearance period of the larvae in the South Sea was closely resulted to spawning period rather than the regional characteristic.

Species composition and abundance of larval fishes in the coastal waters off Gori in the southeastern Korea were investigated from January to December in 2006. During the study period, 32 larvae species belonging to 20 families were collected. The dominant species were Engraulis japonicius, Hexagrammos agrammus, Sillago japonicus, Acropoma japonicum, Apogon lineatus, and Konosirus punctatus. These six species accounted for 87.0% of the total number of individuals collected. The number of species, number of individuals, and species diversity indices fluctuated by season. The peak numbers of species and individuals occurred in July and May, respectively. Correlation analysis showed that monthly variations in water temperature and salinity could act as an indicators of seasonal variations in the larval fish community structure and abundance of the dominant species; in particular, the abundance of S. japonicus, A. japonicum, and A. lineatus were significantly corrected with the water temperature.