| Remarks |
Abstract: The Yellow Sea region and a large part of East China Sea belong to the temperate zone. The common economic fishes in both seas are quite numerous. The present paper, is not intended to describe in- details the fish fauna of these regions, but only gives a brief account of the representative types which have important economic values. First of all, they are, the small croaker Pseudosciaena polyactis Bleeker, the large croaker Pseudosciaena crocea (Richardson), the girdle fish Trichiurus haumela (ForskSl) and the White-scale herring Ilisha elongata (Bennett) which are the most important economic marine fishes of China.The small croaker, Pseudosciaena polyactis, is a migratory fish. They usually live at depths about 20-70 metres where the bottom is sandy and muddy. The optimum water temperature is about 11-13?. According to the locality and the migration character, small croacker off the Chinese Coast can be'divided into three groups: 1) "Southern group" which have their wintering grourd in the southern part of East Sea (28°-29° N. 122°-123°E.); 2) "Central group" which have their wintering ground off the coast of the province of Kiangsu (32°-34°N.123°-125°30' E.) and 3) "Northern group" which have their wintering ground in the southern part of Yellow Sea (33°-35°N.123°-124°E.). The fishing ground of small croaker off the Chinese coast occupies a wide area extending from the province of Fukien in the south to the Liao-tung Peninsula in the north. At the time of spawing migration, they migrate together and form a large group. Annual total catch of the small croaker is about 140,000 tons (1955), of which Po-hai represent about 40.5%, Yellow Sea, 41.2%, and East Sea, 18.3%.The large croaker, Pseudosciaena crocea, is a kind of warm-water fish located in the South China Sea and East China Sea (20°-30°N. 110°-125°E), only occasionally found in the Yellow Sea. Their optimum water temperature is 19°-24?. They live at depths about 15-20 meters where the bottom is sandy and muddy. Their behavior during the spawing migration is the same as that of the small croaker. Annual total catch of large croaker is about 110,000 tons (1955), in which production of the So'uth China Sea represents about 15%, and that of the East China Sea about 85%.The girdle fish, Trichiurus haumela, is a subtropical fish. They are generally found in clear water at depths about 7-22 metres. Their optimum water temperature is 11 --18?. This fish has a rather wide distribution in Indian and Pacific Oceans, but they are most abundant off the Chinese Coast.The white scale herring,Ilisha elongata, is a subtropical fish. Their optimum water temperature is 23°-26?. They live at depths about 8-11 metres where, the bottom is made of mud and sand. This is also an important economic fish and is found to be presence along the entire Chinese Coast.Besides the above mentioned ffshes, there are others which are also of certain economic values. Among them the more important ones are Notorhynchus platycephalus (Tenore), Cetorhinus ma-ximus (Gunner), Scoliodon walbeehmi (Bleeker), Carcharinus spp. Rhincodon typus Smith, Mobula japonica (M. H.) Engraulis japonicus T. S. Hilsa reevesii Rich. Saurida elongata (T. S.) Mura nesox cinereus (Forskal), Pagrosomus major (T. S.), Nemipterus virgatum (Houttuyn), Taius tumifrons (T. S.), Pneumatophorus japonicus (Houttuyn), Trachurus japonicus (T. S.), Stromateotdes argenteus (E.), Lepidotrigla microptera Gunther, Chelidonichthys kumu (L. G.), and Spheroides spp. These fishes distribute widely along the Chinese Coast and are probably found still farther north and south.A comparative study of the marine economic fish fauna of China with that of her neighboring seas demonstrates clearly that there is definite environmental factor which influences the distribution of fishes. For example, Clupea pallasii C. V. Cololabis saira (Brevoort) and Theragra chal-cogramma (Pallas) are abundant in Japan Sea, but very rare or completely absent in the Yellow Sea. On the other hand, Ilisha elongata and Pseudosciaena polya. |