Distributional Pattern of Polychaetes in the Benthic Community of the Yellow Sea

The ecological studies of the benthic polychaetes of the Yellow Sea were carried out for five years from August 1982. The emphasis of the research were placed on clarification of the distributional pattern and characteristic species of environmental factors on the polychaete community. Based on the polychaete samples analysed during the study period, it was possible to divide the polychaetes into five ecological groups : 18 warm water, 22 cold water, 20 cosmopolitan, 29 endemic, and 7 amphi-pacific species, Anaitides koreana, Aglaophamus sinensis, Nephtys polyoranchia, Nephtys caeca, Glycera capitata, and Scoloplos armiger seem to be characteristic species of sand bottom, while Haploscoloplos elongatus and Ophelina aulogaster of mud bottom. A total of 6 benthic communities have been recognized from the dominant benthic fauna found. In each benthic communities, dominant and characteristic polychaete species were clarified according to their ecological types. In general, as echinoderms such as Ophiura kinbergi, Amphioplus megapomus, and Luidia quinaria are distributed widely and found in high density, their influence on the distribution of most polychaetes is clearly shown.