FISHERIES RESEARCH INSTITUTE,MOA,TAIWAN

The main purpose of this study was to understand thecharacteristics of demersal fish assemblages in the area near westTung-Sha Tao, South China Sea, with six bottom trawl operations alonga transect at depths of 400-450 meters during 18-19 April 1995. Atotal of 8 major fish species and 5 prawn species occupying 74.9% and9.7% of the total collected species were recorded respectively. Thespecies found at duplicated stations of which the total linear biomasswere greater than 20.0 for fish and 5.0 for prawn were selected forthe cluster analysis. The relationship between the values ofShannon-Wiener's index and the sampling stations had no significantdifference (p>0.05). Using the unweighted pair group method arithmeticaverage (UPGMA) and the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity values, 6 trawloperation stations were grouped into 1 cluster and 8 fish species and5 prawn species were classified into 2 groups respectively. Based onthe catch percentages and cluster analysis, the study area may beconsidered as one of the major habitats of hairtail Trichiuruslepturus.