Biogeographic studies of shallow-water animals from Japanese waters, with special reference to the Pacific and philippine Plates

1995年1月和2月，在小笠原群岛秩知岛附近浅水区，用渔船上的箱式和圆筒型拖网和水肺潜水时的手网采集了鱼类和无脊椎动物。1995年12月和1996年1月，在资金和气候条件限制下，几位研究人员在琉球群岛南部的八重山群石垣岛和西表岛附近海域进行了密集的收集和观测。目前正在对许多种群进行系统研究，初步报告表明，存在许多科学上的新物种，也是日本动物区系的新物种。对小笠原群岛和琉球群岛不同类群的区系比较表明，许多浅水物种不仅包括Springer（1982：Smiths. Conti.Zool.，367)而且底栖无脊椎动物也分布在沿着菲律宾和太平洋板块。这可能是合理的，因为洋流通常是沿着由板块撞击形成的岛链和洋脊产生的。另一方面，岛链沿着海沟和海槽的复杂底质条件可能导致物种多样性可能符合替代理论。

In January and Feburary, 1995, fish and invertebrates inhabiting shallow-waters around Chichi-jima in the Ogasawara Islands were collected with box- and cylinder-type dredge on board fishing boat and with hand-net during SCUBA diving. And also, in December 1995 and January 1996, the intensive collections and observations were made by several researchers, within the financial and climatical restriction, at the sea off Ishigaki-jima and Iriomote-jima, the Yaeyama Group in the southern Ryukyu Islands. Systematic studies on many groups are now in progress, the preliminary reports indicating the presence of many species new to science and also new to Japanese fauna. Comparisons between the faunae of various groups from the Ogasawara and Ryukyu Islands suggest that many shallow-water species not only the shore-fishes indicated by Springer (1982 : Smiths.Contri.Zool., 367) but also the benthic invertebrates are distributed along the Philippine and Pacific Plates. This may be reasonable because the oceanic currents are generally induced along the island chains and ridges formed by the impact of Plates. On the other hand, the complex bottom conditions accompnied with trench and trough along the island chains might lead to the species diversity possibly interpreted with the vicariance theory.