Distribution of salps near the South Shetland Islands; their ecological significance in the area

Distribution and abundance of salps were studied near the South Shetland Islands during summer 1990/1991. Total salp biomass ranged between 0.1 and 2021.3 mg WW∙m-3 and was nearly equal to krill biomass in the area. Two species; Salpa thompsoni and Ihlea racovitzai were found, and the former was dominant. Horizontal distribution of salps and krill did not overlap. Krill occurred abundantly at the high-chlorophyll a area, in contrast, salps exhibited high biomass in the area of low chlorophyll a concentration