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Tintinnid ciliates as indicator species of different water masses in the western North Pacific Polar Front
Author(s) -
KATO SATOSHI,
TANIGUCHI AKIRA
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
fisheries oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.016
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1365-2419
pISSN - 1054-6006
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2419.1993.tb00132.x
Subject(s) - plankton , water mass , oceanography , polar front , current (fluid) , polar , front (military) , indicator species , water column , salinity , temperature salinity diagrams , phytoplankton , ecology , environmental science , geology , biology , physics , habitat , astronomy , nutrient
Distributions of 10 dominant tintinnid taxa and groups in the western North Pacific Polar Frontal Zone or the Sanriku Waters were analysed on T‐S‐Plankton diagrams to estimate their values as indicator species of water masses. Because it is difficult to identify the origin of water by conventional T‐S analysis in areas such as this where three currents such as the warm Kuroshio, the Tsugaru Warm Current and the cold Oyashio are converging, reliable indicator species can be of great help in identification of the water masses. Normal cells of tintinnids with a soft body together with empty loricae were plotted separately on T‐S diagrams. Because empty loricae of most species were distributed over wider ranges of temperature and salinity, or empty loricae might remain suspended in a particular water mass for a fairly long time, tintinnid species including empty loricae were recognized as reliable indicator species. Because contrastingly different tintinnid faunas were derived from the Kuroshio and the Oyashio, water masses originating from both currents were clearly traced by the indicator species as would be expected. Furthermore, by employing the appropriate indicator species defined on the T‐S‐Plankton diagram, it was also possible to identify the most similar pair of water masses, i.e. the Tsugaru Warm Current and mixture of the Kuroshio and the Oyashio, which cannot be identified by conventional T‐S analysis.