SPECIES COMPOSITION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FISH LARVAE IN YENLIAO BAY, NORTHEASTERN TAIWAN

Fish larvae were collected monthly in Yenliao Bay in northeastern Taiw an, using a Maruchi larval net at 11 stations from October 1992 to Sep tember 1993. A total of 9 969 larval fish representing 80 families and 138 species were collected. The larval fish assemblages included cora l-reef, estuarine, and coastal pelagic species, Pomacentridae were the most abundant, making up 23% of the total catch, followed by Apogonid ae (15%), Ambassis sp. (9%), Auxis sp. (9%), Gobiidae (6%), Carangidae (6%), Myctophidae (4%), Tripterygiidae (3%), Engraulis japonicus (3%) , Priacanthus marcacanthus (2%), and Sebastiscus marmoratus (2%), Thes e 11 species groups constituted approximately 82% of the total collect ion. The abundance and number of species of fish larvae increased with temperature and reached a peak in May, Larvae were more abundant in t he nearshore than the offshore stations. Pelagic fish (e.g., E. japoni cus) spawned in offshore waters, and their larvae migrated to nearshor e waters. The distribution of fish larvae in nearshore waters was inde pendent of the distribution of plankton. The high species diversity re flects the complicated geomorphology and hydrography of the embayment environment. The mismatch in the distributions of peak abundance betwe en fish larvae and zooplankton, and the relationship between the timin g of occurrence and life history transition of fish larvae are discuss ed.