A STUDY OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF RECENT OSTRACOD FAUNAS FROM COASTAL AREAS OF THE EAST CHINA AND YELLOW SEAS

A total of 91 species belonging to 57 genera were recovered from the coastal areas of the north East China Sea ana the south Yellow Sea, of which, 42 species of 30 genera were collected alive. The biocoenoses of estuaries, supralittoral and eulittoral zones are dominated by orackish and euryhaline species, of which Albileberis sheyangensis, A. sinensis, Leptocythere ventriclivosa, Loxoconcha ocellata, Sinocytheridea latiotata and S. longa are ubiquitous; Propontocypris euryhalina, Spinileberis furuyaensis and S. pulchra are restricted to the supralittoral zone; Neomonoceratina crispata and Pontocythere littoralis are only present in the eulittoral zone. The community structure of these biocoenoses is generally marked by low snecies diversity (H(S) and 5) and high incidence and dominance. Among the environmental factors investigated, it was found that salinity was the most important in controlling the distribution of living ostracods, and high-energy hydrodynamic condition was the main cause of the great difference between biocoenosis and thanato:oenosis in tidal estuaries and the sandy eulittoral zone.