Ichthyoplankton samples were collected during the November–December 1994 Italian Antarctic Oceanographic Cruise carried out to the western Ross Sea. A midwater trawl (Hamburg Plankton Net) was used to collect samples at 26 stations. Larval and juvenile specimens of 21 species belonging to six families (Artedidraconidae, Bathydraconidae, Channichthyidae, Macrouridae, Nototheniidae and Paralepididae) were caught from surface to 380 m depth. Mean relative abundance of larval fish in the whole area was about 2.7 specimens 1000 m−3 of filtered water. Pleuragramma antarcticum were the most abundant as postlarvae and juveniles. Larval and postlarval specimens of Chionodraco myersi were also abundant and widespread. The high number of Trematomus lepidorhinus (570 larvae) found in a single station off Terra Nova Bay (74°48′75“S, 164°36′90”E) was noteworthy. Our data demonstrate that the species diversity of the larval fish community in the western Ross Sea is much as found elsewhere in the Antarctic and show a greater abundance of fish larvae in inshore than in offshore waters.
