Unusual abundance of appendicularians in the seasonal ice zone (140°E) of the Southern Ocean

During the 43rd Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE) cruise on March 10-12 in 2002, NORPAC net samplings at three stations along a south-north transect, ca. 140°E in the Indian sector were conducted to survey zooplankton community structure and abundance in the seasonal ice zone (SIZ) of the Southern Ocean. A total of fourteen species/taxa were identified from the three stations. While copepods were numerically dominant at two stations (79.9% and 93.1% respectively of total abundance), appendicularians were found to be numerically dominant (84.0% of total abundance) at the southernmost station. This dominance of Appendicularia at this station suggested that Appendicularia is possibly an integral part of the community structure of the zooplankton in the SIZ. The Southern Boundary (SB) on the 140°E transect was found to be located at ∼64.30°S and the southernmost station was located south of the SB while the two other stations were located north of the SB. Some species, such as Rhincalanus gigas, Calanus simillimus, Amphipoda, Euphausiacea, and Polychaeta, had distribution patterns that correlated with the position of the SB, therefore the SB is considered important in influencing the distribution of the zooplankton and its community structure in the SIZ.