Composition and abundance of zooplankton collected from Ukrainian longline fishery vessels in CCAMLR Statistical Subareas 88.1, 88.2 and 48.1 during the 2020/21 summer season

Community composition and abundance of zooplankton collected from three Ukrainian longline fishery vessels, Calypso, Marigolds and Simeiz have been studied in the top 100 m layer in the CCAMLR Statistical Subareas 88.1, 88.2, 48.1. In total, 40 taxa were identified from the zooplankton samples collected by relatively fine 100 µm mesh sized plankton net with mouth area of 0.1 m² in the austral summer of 2020–2021. Copepods were the most diverse group represented by 12 species of calanoids, and by three species of cyclopoids and harpacticoids each. Among the copepods, Oithona spp., Triconia (Oncaea) spp., Calanoides acutus, and Ctenocalanus citer were the most abundant. As for other taxa, the most diverse were Euphausiacea with three species, Polychaeta and Hydrozoa with five species each. The total zooplankton community abundance ranged from 174.08 to 9245.42 ind m^-3. Taxonomic composition of zooplankton was typical for Antarctic waters.