northern Priinorye, Phyllospadlx and Sargassums being characteristic only 

 for the upper sublittoral, while the sublittoral edge is populated 

 primarily by a mosaic of algae with predominance of Rhodophyta, as well 

 as some brown algae, particularly Coccophora langsdorffi . It is here 

 that the stands of 1 i thothamnions usually begin, the thickness of the 

 cover of which gradually increases in the sublittoral with increasing 

 depth. The animals here are more varied. Particularly noted is an 

 increase in the number of echi noderms : the stars Henricia and Leptas- 

 terias , Strongylocentrotus , the holothurians Cucumaria , etc. Of the 

 decapodes in the intertidal zone of eastern Kamchatka and the Kurile, 

 Thelmessus cheiragonus is characteristic, as well as juvenile 

 Paralithodes brevipes , etc. In the quantitative aspect, on the boreal 

 edge, it is not animals but plants which dominate. Only in the baths of 

 the Komandorskiy and, to some extent, the Kurile, does 

 Strongylocentrotus polyacanthus form rich accumulations, though on 

 reefs, frequently covered with sand, populations of the sabellids or 

 ascidians develop, with almost no algae. 



Along the Pacific coast of North America, the sublittoral edge is 

 richly populated with laminaria such as Alaria val ida , _A. marginata , 

 Egregia menziesi , below which we usually find Lessoniopsis littoralis , 

 and still lower--the sublittoral gigantic Nereocystis leutkeana , 

 Macrocystis pyrifera and _M. i ntegri fol ia . Also characteristic Are 

 Sargassum muticum , Cystoseira crassifes , _C. osmundacea and 

 Phyllospadix scouleri . Among the red algae, the most common are species 

 of the genera Iridophycus , Gigartina and Odonthal ia (Stephenson, 

 Stephenson, 1972). 



In the temperate waters of the southern hemisphere, large brown 

 algae such as Durvillea antarctica , _D. wil lana , _D. potatorum , _D. 

 caepestipes , Lessonia corrugata , _L. nigrescens , Macrocystis pyri fera , 

 species of Cystophora and Carpophyl 1 urn also develop. 



A somewhat poorer laminarian flora is found in the subtropical 

 waters of both hemispheres, e.g., in southern California, Japan, South 

 America and southern Australia (species of the genera Eisenia and 

 Egregia ) . However, most characteristic for the warmer waters Are the 

 calcareous red and green algae, and of the brown al gae-- Sargassum , 

 Turbinaria , Dictyota and Padina ; therefore, the appearance of the lower 

 portion of the intertidal zone is quite different from the intertidal 

 zone in the temperate waters. This difference is increased still 

 further by the departure of the coral or algal reefs or accumulation of 

 Vermetidae and the Polychaetae serlupids Pomatoleios and Pomantoceros , 

 inhabiting the calcareous tubules of the gastropod mollusks (Southward, 

 1958). 



1.7 Characteristic Peculiarities of the Littoral Biota of the 

 Tropics and Circumpolar Waters 



Until recently, it was widely thought that, as we move toward the 

 tropics, a general tendency is observed toward descent of the littoral 

 fauna and flora into the deeper horizons and the sublittoral and, in 

 connection with that, a general impoverishment of the littoral biota 

 (Gislen, 1943-1944). The studies of E. F. Gurjanova (1959, 1961a, 



154 



