Composition and distribution of fish species collected during the fourth Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition in 2010: Composition and distribution of fish species collected during the fourth Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition in 2010

There are awareness and concerns caused by the decreasing sea ice coverage around the Arctic and Antarctic due toeffects of climate change. Emphasis in this study was on rapid changes in Arctic sea ice coverage and its impacts on the marineecology during the fourth Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition in 2010. Our purpose was to establish a baseline of Arcticfish compositions, and consequent effects of climate change on the fish community and biogeography. Fish specimens were collectedusing a multinet middle-water trawl, French-type beam trawl, otter trawl, and triangular bottom trawl. In total, 36 tows werecarried out along the shelf of the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, and Chukchi Sea in the Arctic Ocean. In total, 41 fish species belongingto 14 families in 7 orders were collected during the expedition. Among them, the Scorpaeniformes, including 17 species, accountedfor almost one third of the total number (34.8%), followed by 14 species of the Perciformes (27.0%), 5 species of the Pleuronectiformes(22.3%), and 2 species of the Gadiformes (15.4%). The top 6 most abundant species were Hippoglossoides robustus, Boregadussaida, Myoxocephalus scorpius, Lumpenus fabricii, Artediellus scaber, and Gymnocanthus tricuspis . Abundant species variedaccording to the different fishing methods; numbers of families and species recorded did not differ with the various fishingmethods; species and abundances decreased with depth and latitude; and species extending over their known geographic rangeswere observed during the expedition. Station information, species list, and color photographs of all fishes are provided.