ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Ecosystem Ecology
Spatial Heterogeneity of Epipelagic Ichthyoplankton and its Link to Environmental Drivers in the eastern Arabian Sea During the Early Summer Monsoon
Provisionally accepted
- 1Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE), Kochi, India
- 2Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Kochi, India
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Assessing the spatial distribution of ichthyoplankton populations is crucial for understanding marine ecosystems. However,. iIdentifying the factors that influence their abundance and distribution presents a significant challenge, particularly in tropical waterswhere seasonal change plays an essential role in the environmental variables. For effective management and decision-making in marine ecosystem, it is necessary to comprehensively assess these variables. In this study, we analyzed abiotic and biotic factors from the eastern Arabian Sea during the early summer monsoon to characterize ichthyoplankton assemblages and examine the impact of physical processes and environmental variables on their spatial abundance and distribution. Although the eastern Arabian Sea (EAS) is one of the most productive fishing areas in the Indian Ocean, information on ichthyoplankton in this region has been limited. Our findings reveal a heterogeneous distribution of ichtyoplankton across the EAS, which was significantly influenced by the upwelling-driven productive environment characterizing the EAS.Our finding reveals a heterogeneous distribution of ichthyoplankton across the EAS, and this upwelling-driven productive environment significantly influenced the uneven distribution of ichthyoplankton among different regions. Statistical analyses, including Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA), indicated a strong positive correlation between nutrient levels, chlorophyll-a concentrations, and zooplankton biomass with the abundance of fish eggs and larvae. Conversely, sea surface temperature and salinity were found to have negative relationship correlation with ichthyoplankton abundance and distribution. These findings provide valuable insights into the ecology of ichthyoplankton within a major eastern boundary upwelling ecosystem and highlighting the impact of physical processes and varying environmental drivers on ichthyoplankton populations in a productive marine environment.
Keywords: distribution, Eastern Arabian Sea, Environmental Variables, ichthyoplankton, physical process, Seasonality
Received: 15 Sep 2025; Accepted: 12 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kalbande, Karati, Antony and Shiligireddy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Kusum Komal Karati
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