Preliminary study on hyperbenthos species composition in Varna Bay (the western Black Sea)

Year 2012, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 1 - 5, 20.12.2012

Sonya Uzunova Veselina Mihneva Konstantin Mikhaylov

Abstract

Preliminary study of hyperbenthos composition in Varna Bay (the Western Black Sea) was carried out in June, August and October 2007, and in June and October 2008. A total of 37 hyperbenthos and zooplankton taxa were established. The hyperbenthos consisted mainly of decapod's larvae (6), fish eggs and larvae (10) and 4 crustacean's groups, belonging to merohyperbenthos and holohyperbenthos. The merohyperbenthos made up a significant share of the total species number in June - August 2007 (70 % -55 %), whereas the fish eggs were replaced by larval stages of anchovy, horse mackerel and red mullet in October 2007. In June 2008 the share of merohyperbenthos reached 61 %, whereas in October 2008 the hyperbenthos was dominated by holohyperbenthos (43 %).

Keywords

Hyperbenthos, Varna Bay, The Black Sea

References

• Băcesco, M. 1948. Données sur la faune carcinologique da la mer Noire le long de la côte Bulgare, Traveaux de la station biologique maritime – Varna, 14: 1-24.
• Beyer, F. 1958. A new, bottom-living Trachymedusa from th Oslaofjord. Description of the species, and a general discussion of the life conditions and fauna of the fjord deeps. Nytt Magazin for Zoologi, 6: 121-4.
• Brunel, P. M., Besner, D., Messier, L., Poirier, D., Granger, D., and M. Weinstein. 1978. Le traîneau Macer-GIROQ: appareil amélioré pour l'échantillonnage quantitatif de la petite faune nageuse au voisinage du fond. International Review of Hydrobiology, 63: 815–829.
• Cattrijsse, A., Mees, J., and O. Hamerlynck. 1993. The hyperbenthic Amphipoda and Isopoda of the Voordelta and the Westerschelde Estuary. Cahiers de Biologie Marine, 34: 187-200.
• Chichkoff, G. 1912. Contribution à l'étude de la Faune de la Me Noire. Animeaux récoltés sur les côtes bulgares. Archives of Zoological Experimental Genetics Notes Review, 2: 29-31.
• Gavrilova, N. and J. R Dolan. 2007. A note on species list and ecosystem shifts: Black Sea tintinnids, ciliates of the microzooplankton. Acta Protozoologica, 46: 279-288.
• Hamerlynck, O. and J. Mees. 1991. Temporal and spatial structure in the hyperbenthic community of a shallow coastal area and its relation to environmental variables. Oceanologica Acta, Special Issue, 11: 205-211
• Hamerlynck, O., Hostens, K., Arellano, R. V., and P. A. Van Damme 1993. The mobile epibenthic fauna of soft bottoms in the Dutch Delta (south-west Netherlands): spatial structure. Netherlands Journal of Aquatic Ecology, 27: 343-358.
• Korshenko, A., and B. Aleksandrov. 2006. Manual for zooplankton sampling and analysis in the Black Sea Region.
• Mees, J. A. and M. B. Jones. 1979. The hyperbenthos, in: Oceanography and Marine biology: an Annual Review, Eds. A. D. Ansel, Gibsonand, R. N., M. Barnes, 35: 221-255.
• Mees, J., Dewicke, A. and O. Hamerlynck. 1993. Seasonal composition and spatial distribution of hyperbenthic communities along estuarine gradients in the Westerschelde. Netherlands Journal of Aquatic Ecology, 27(2-4): 359-376.
• Mihneva, V. and K. Stefanova. 2011. Species diversity and dynamics of zooplankton abundance and biomass off the Bulgarian Black Sea coast in 2008-2010. SU'2011. 97-104.
• Morduhai-Boltovskii et al. 1968. The identification book of Black and Azov Seas fauna, Naukova Dumka, Kiev , vol. I, II, III.
• Langmead, O., McQuatters-Gollop, A., Mee, L. D, Friedrich, J., Gilbert, Gomoiu, A. J. M. T., Jackson, E. L., Knudsen, S.,Minicheva, G. and V. Todorova. 2009. Recovery or decline of the northwestern Black Sea: A societal choice revealed by socioecological modelling. Ecological Modelling, 220: 2927-2939.
• Petipa, T. S. 1959. On average weight of main forms of zooplankton. The studies of Sevastopol Biological Station, No 5: 13.
• Uzunova, S., 2005. Shifts and dynamics of benthic crustaceans from the Bulgarian Black Sea (Varna Bay), Proceedings of the UNESCO workshop: “Large scale disturbances (regime shifts) and recovery in aquatic ecosystems: challenges for management towards sustainability” Velikova, V. and N. Chipev (Eds.), Unesco-Roste/BAS Workshop on Regime Shifts, 14 -16 June 2005, Varna.
• Velikova, V., Petrova, D., Mihneva, V., Dineva, S., and S. Ouzounova. 2001. Recent state of the Bulgarian Black Sea – signs of improvement of the ecosystem, Proc. Of the V International Conference on the Mediterranean coastal environment, HAMMAMED, TUNISIA, Ed. Erdal Ozhan, 2: 893-905.