PLANKTON AS AN INDICATOR OF WATER TRANSPO RT IN THE ANTARCTIC

Studies were made of net plankton in the 0 - 1500 m layer along the se ction from the Adelaide Island to the Pennella Coast and in the region northeastwards of the Balleni Isles. The bulk of organisms was compos ed of a complex of typical Antarctic copepods Calanoides acutus, Calan us propinquus and Rhincalanus gigas, however, separate water modificat ions differed in their specific features. The lowlatitude Antarctic Ci rcumpolar Current area was characterized by the occurrence mainly in d eep layers of species with the polar frontal and sub-antarctic ranges (Euphausia triacantha, C. simillimus, Eucalanus longiceps, E. hyalinus ). The high-latitude Coastal Antarctic current was characterized by ab undance of Euphausia superba larvae. The mixed water of the Ross gyre did not contain the northern inhabitants at all and had only scarce E. superba larvae.