Despite the wide distribution of holopelagic polychaetes, very little is known about their ecology and role in communities, particularly their vertical patterns. Data on pelagic polychaetes from the Southern Ocean are especially scarce. The aim of our study was to address both issues. The pelagic polychaete taxocene was sampled at 30 stations in the West Antarctic with different gears. A 5-net Multinet was used at 18 stations to study vertical structure; qualitative gears with large mouth areas were used at all stations to obtain more complete faunistic information. The horizontal distribution of polychaetes had no correlation with water masses and was likely driven by seasonal succession. Although four groups of species were distinguished by the differences in their vertical distribution patterns, their common (and most notable) property was their complete absence in the uppermost water layer, down to the depth of 50–100 m. This layer corresponded to the chlorophyll a maximum. Based on the relation between the pelagic polychaete distribution and the dominant phytoplankton species group, we consider the latter to be one of the main drivers of this pattern. Vertical profiles of polychaete abundance and species number at deep-water stations had relatively uniform shapes. At the same time, vertical profile shapes in shallow waters varied greatly, apparently reflecting the more diverse conditions and finer scale heterogeneity of the neritic zone environment.

尽管全陆多毛类分布广泛，但人们对它们的生态和在群落中的作用，特别是它们的垂直模式知之甚少。关于南大洋中上层多毛类动物的数据尤其稀少。我们研究的目的是解决这两个问题。在南极西部的 30 个观测站使用不同的装置对中上层多毛类紫杉世进行了采样。在18个站点使用5网Multinet来研究垂直结构；所有站点都使用了大口面积的定性齿轮，以获得更完整的动物区系信息。多毛类动物的水平分布与水团没有相关性，可能是由季节演替驱动的。尽管有四类物种因其垂直分布模式的差异而被区分，它们的共同（也是最显着的）特性是它们完全不存在于最上层水层中，直至 50-100 m 的深度。该层对应于叶绿素一个最大值。根据中上层多毛类分布与优势浮游植物物种群之间的关系，我们认为后者是这种模式的主要驱动因素之一。深水站多毛类丰度和物种数的垂直剖面形状相对均匀。同时，浅水区垂向剖面形状变化较大，明显反映了浅海区环境条件更加多样化、尺度异质性更加精细。