Abstract
Physical, chemical and biological surveys on Nakdong River estuary were made from October, 1985 to September, 1986. 1. For all the seasons except summer, the sea surface temperature in northwest area of the line which linked from Seo Island to Jisim Island was I-2$^{\circ}$C lower than in southeast area, but in summer the sea surface temperature in northwest area was I-2$^{\circ}$C higher than in southeast area. On the contrary, bottom temperature of coastal area was 1$^{\circ}$C higher than that of oceanic area except winter. 2. Surface salinity in summer and fall has minimum value of 1. 9%0 and maximum value of 32.9%0. This large variation was caused by the runoff of the Nakdong River. Effect of less saline Nakdong River water in northwest area of the line which linked from Seo Island to Jisim Island was greater than in southeast area. A strong current rip always formed near this line. 3. The yellowish-green colored zone was observed in the Nakdong River estuary throughout the year by influence of river discharge. The characteristics of the water quality in the zone have shown that the water color was grade 7 by the Forel water-color meter, transparency was less than 4 m, and concentration of suspended solids was more than 5 mg/1. This water body was in the state of eutrophication in terms of chlorophyll-a and inorganic nitrogen concentration during summer season. 4. During the study period, total 276 taxa were identified. Most of them were diatoms and dinoflagellates which consisted of 97.5%. The component ratio of the above two groups was 84.4% and 13.1 % respectively. Diatoms were plentiful in December and dinoflagellates in July. Dominant species were Nitzschia seriata in October, Thalassiosira rotula in December, Skeletoncma costatum in April, and Nitzschia longissima in July. 5. A total of 47 zooplankton taxa was identified from the samples collected. Copepods were numerically the most important components of zooplankton communities in the study area. The domir:ant copepod species were Paracalanus parvus, Acartia clausi and Temora turbinata. Noctiluca scintillans was the next important component. The other zooplankton with minor abundance were Cladocera. Sagitta spp., Cnidaria, Mysidacea, Lucifer spp. and Amphipoda. 6. During the study period, fishes from 47 families and 87 species were sampled in th~ study area. The four most abundant fish species were Rep~mucen//'s valencicnnei, Leiognathus n~cha!is, Amblychaeturicllthys hexanema and Sardirel/a zun:zsi. The fish species of the secondary importance in abundance were Cynoglossus joyneri, Sillago sihama, Engra~lis japonicus, Encdrias nebulos'l, Acanthogobius flavimanus, Trichiurus lepturus, LiParis tanai/ai, Cynagloss//'s interruptus, Aj)ogon line:z!us, Thrissz la 1l.'1la!ensis, and Limanda yokohamac.