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.

Downward fluxes of particulate matter were investigated in the polynya of Terra Nova Bay (western Ross Sea) from February 1995 to December 1997. Biogenic silica made up the bulk of the sinking matter, reaching a maximum of 85% of the total flux in both the shallow and deep traps. Organic carbon accounted for 2.1 to 23.5% of the sample mass in the shallow trap and 2.8 to 7.2% in the deep trap. Biogenic silica and organic carbon peaks occurred in February–March over the three years and were always coupled in the top trap. Carbonate fluxes showed an uneven temporal trend, were low near the seafloor and contributed up to 69.8% of the material collected by the shallow trap. Vertical fluxes in the polynya showed large seasonal and interannual variability. Differences in primary productivity, ice cover dynamics and current energies accounted for the interannual changes in the flux of materials to the subsurface trap. Advection from sites a few hundred kilometres apart was the most likely reason for the decoupling between shallow and deep fluxes after October 1996. The seasonal pattern of downward fluxes was essentially linked to the seasonal cycle of primary production and spring–summer variations largely resulted from the composition of the phytoplankton assemblage in the overlying water column. The export of phototrophically produced materials to depth was low in late spring–early summer, at the time when Phaeocystis and small flagellates were the predominant autotrophs and the microbial food web prevailed over herbivorous feeding. Enhanced fluxes were linked to the predominance of large diatoms above the trap, in late summer. Temporal dynamics in this polynya were delayed by approximately one month as compared to the southernmost Ross Sea polynya, but showed the same temporal pattern: the time lag between production and accumulation of biogenic materials in the upper water column was a few weeks, while the delay in export from the surface layer relative to the maximum accumulation of biomass was approximately one month.