Quantitative importance and species composition of polychaetes in the benthic community of the Yellow Sea

The ecological studies of the benthic polychaetes were carried out in the follow Sea for the period of August 1982 through February 1986. Special emphasis were placed on quantitative species composition and the importance of polychaetes in the benthic community. Polychaete group ranked numerically high, composing of the total benthos. In the biomass, echinoderms or mollusks showed as a dominant group, but the range of its seasonal variation was very large. Due to the use of sampling gear, the relative importance of polychaetes was somewhat different. The case of a dredge showed a little lower composition rate of polychaetes than a grab one. This result was caused by high density of benthic animals because the dredge would tow only much more surface sediments than the grab sampler. The present studies included a total of 141 species and the representative polychaetes in this area were Spiophanes bormbyx, Ampharete arctica, Geniada maulata, Nephtys caeca, Nothria iridescens.