Fishes in pelagic catches in the vicinity of the South Shetland Island during the 6th Antarctic expedition of rv Kaiyo Maru, 1990/1991

During the 6th Antarctic Expedition of R/V Kaiyo Maru (1990/1991), observations on the occurrence and abundance of fishes in a total of 102 pelagic hauls for the Antarctic krill were made.
Of the 102 net hauls, a total of 104 fishes belonging to 4 families and 16 species were captured in 25 tows. Juvenile Lepidonotothen larseni was the most abundant (46 individuals; 44.2% in number) and post-larval Cryodraco antarcticus was the next (14 individuals; 13.5% in number). The standard length of L. larseni ranged from 41.4 to 50.9ram (average 46.8mm; mean 46.6mm). Among the notothenioid fishes collected, only two adults (one specimen of Gobionotothen gibberifrons and one channichthyid fish - specimen lost on board) were included. Bottom depths of the stations where notothenioid post-larvae and juveniles were caught were less than 1000m deep. On the contrary, bathypelagic groups of the Myctophidae and Paralepididae were collected at the 11 offshore stations which bottom depths were deeper than 2000m.
In contrast with other previous data, present results (less than 36 individuals per 0.5 hour haul) show relative low abundance in pelagic catches for this region.