Marine Biodiversity in Japanese Waters

To understand marine biodiversity in Japanese waters, we have compiled information on the marine biota in Japanese waters, including the number of described species (species richness), the history of marine biology research in Japan, the state of knowledge, the number of endemic species, the number of identified but undescribed species, the number of known introduced species, and the number of taxonomic experts and identification guides, with consideration of the general ocean environmental background, such as the physical and geological settings. A total of 33,629 species have been reported to occur in Japanese waters. The state of knowledge was extremely variable, with taxa containing many inconspicuous, smaller species tending to be less well known. The total number of identified but undescribed species was at least 121,913. The total number of described species combined with the number of identified but undescribed species reached 155,542. This is the best estimate of the total number of species in Japanese waters and indicates that more than 70% of Japan's marine biodiversity remains un-described. The number of species reported as introduced into Japanese waters was 39. This is the first attempt to estimate species richness for all marine species in Japanese waters. Although its marine biota can be considered relatively well known, at least within the Asian-Pacific region, considering the vast number of different marine environments such as coral reefs, ocean trenches, ice-bound waters, methane seeps, and hydrothermal vents, much work remains to be done. We expect global change to have a tremendous impact on marine biodiversity and ecosystems. Japan is in a particularly suitable geographic situation and has a lot of facilities for conducting marine science research. Japan has an important responsibility to contribute to our understanding of life in the oceans.

[1]  J. Ott.  Handbook of Deep‐Sea Hydrothermal Vent Fauna , 2006 .

[2]  P. Bouchet,et al.  European marine biodiversity inventory and taxonomic resources: state of the art and gaps in knowledge , 2006 .

[3]  S. Adl,et al.  The New Higher Level Classification of Eukaryotes with Emphasis on the Taxonomy of Protists , 2005, The Journal of eukaryotic microbiology.

[4]  T. Ishimaru,et al.  Coarse scale distributions and community structure of hydromedusae related to water mass structures in two locations of Japanese waters in early summer , 2003 .

[5]  P. Lambshead,et al.  Marine nematode deep‐sea biodiversity – hyperdiverse or hype? , 2003 .

[6]  S. Kojima.  Deep-Sea Chemoautosynthesis-Based Communities in the Northwestern Pacific , 2002 .

[7]  Cindy Lee Van Dover,et al.  The Ecology of Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents , 2000 .

[8]  丸山 正,et al.  潜水調査船が観た深海生物 : 深海生物研究の現在 = Deep‐sea Life : biological observations using research submersibles , 2012 .

[9]  K. Okoshi.  Unintentionally introduced species—the clam-eating moon snail Euspira fortunei , 2007 .

[10]  H. Fukuda.  Alien Species and the Labyrinths Hindering Their Identification , 2004 .

[11]  E. Nishi,et al.  Introduced and Globally Invaded Polychaetous Annelids , 2004 .

[12]  M. Otani.  Introduced Marine Organisms in Japanese Coastal Waters, and the Processes Involved in Their Entry , 2004 .

[13]  K. Okoshi.  Alien Species Introduced with Imported Clams: the Clam-eating Moon Snail Euspira fortunei and Other Unintentionally Introduced Species , 2004 .

[14]  Takao Suzuki,et al.  Human-mediated Introduction and Dispersal of Marine Organisms in Japan: Results of a Questionnaire Survey by the Committee for the Preservation of the Natural Environment, the Japanese Association of Benthology , 2004 .

[15]  千原 光雄,et al.  日本産海洋プランクトン検索図説 = An illustrated guide to marine plankton in Japan , 1997 .

[16]  T. Kase,et al.  Characteristics of submarine cave bivalves in the northwestern Pacific , 1996 .

[17]  P. Lambshead,et al.  Recent developments in marine benthic biodiversity research , 1993 .