Trophic structure of micronekton in the Northwest Pacific Ocean

Introduction Stable isotope analysis has been widely used in the study of trophic structure marine micronekton recent years. Methods In this study, carbon and nitrogen stable values fish, cephalopod, shrimp zooplankton species were measured from samples collected Northwest Pacific Ocean March September 2019 to construct a continuous spectrum compare niches among species. addition, we compared variation isotopic different groups species, respectively. Results Significant differences δ 13 C 15 N detected cephalopod with value ranges −21.9‰ −18.7‰, −21.3‰ −17.7‰ −20.4‰ −19.5‰, respectively range was 7.0‰ 12.4‰, 8.2‰ 12.2‰ 7.6‰ 10.6‰, Using copepods as baseline for estimating average level (TL) micronekton, TLs ranged 2.67 4.80 cephalopods, fishes 3.3 ± 0.3, 3.7 0.6 4.0 Myctophidae Stomiidae occupied higher TLs. Oplophorus gracilirostris , Enoploteuthis chunii Abralia similis had wide niches. Discussion Our results show that Myctophidae, Stomiidae, play important roles maintaining stability Kuroshio-Oyashio ecosystem Ocean.