THE BARENTS SEA 123 



E. Gurjanova's data (1928) farther east in the Cheshskaya Guba, some littoral 

 forms such as Balanus balanoides, Mytilus edulis, Acmaeo testudinalis, Littorina 

 rudis, Arenicola marina and Macoma baltica are retained in places where there 

 are rocks sparsely covered by seaweed. 



In the southern bays of Novaya Zemlya (E. Gurjanova and P. Ushakov, 

 1928) Mytilus edulis, Littorina rudis, Rissoa aculeus, Margarita helicina 

 v. major, Gammarus locusta and others may still be found on the littoral. At 

 the Matochkin Shar (P. Ushakov, 1931) and farther northwards the littoral 

 fauna dwindles almost to nothing. It is represented only by Gammarus locusta 

 Pseudalibrotus littoralis and by the rare and small-sized Mytilus edulis. In 

 some places on the eastern coast of Spitsbergen colonies of small-sized 

 Balanus balanoides have been found on the rocks. 



Sublittoral fauna. A qualitative biocoenotic description of the sublittoral 

 fauna was given by K. Derjugin in his monograph on the Kola Inlet (1915), 

 and later by his pupil E. F. Gurjanova for Cheshskaya Guba (1929) and by 

 E. F. Gurjanova and P. Ushakov (1928, 1931) for the shores on Novaya 

 Zemlya (Chernaya Guba and Matochkin Shar). Finally the benthos along the 

 Kola meridian has been under constant, careful investigation (K. Derjugin, 

 N. Tanassijchuk and others). In 1924 large-scale quantitative fauna surveys 

 were begun by the State Institute of Oceanography (Zenkevitch, Brotzkaya, 

 Idelson, Leibson, Filatova and Zatzepin) (1924 to 1939). 



As depth increases and biotopic variety correspondingly decreases, so also 

 the range of animal and vegetable groups is reduced. Thus E. F. Gurjanova, 

 I. Zachs and P. Ushakov (1925 to 1930) have distinguished on a comparatively 

 small area of the Murman coast littoral more than fifteen basic biocoenoses. 

 About the same amount of biocoenoses was found by K. Derjugin (1915) on 

 the Kola Inlet sublittoral, on an area of about 1 30 km 2 . Finally no more than 

 ten more basic benthic groups were noted by the quantitative surveys on the 

 huge bottom area of the open parts of the Barents Sea. The largest variety of 

 species is adapted to the middle and lower levels of the sublittoral. As has 

 been mentioned above, Derjugin introduced also a pseudo-abyssal zone, at 

 depths below 250 m, in his description of the Kola Inlet fauna. There are no 

 plants at all here, while a considerable number of forms with fairly sharply 

 expressed abyssal characteristics (loss of pigmentation, extended extremities, 

 adjustments for inhabiting very soft floors, etc.) are accumulated. 



For several years (1903, 1908, 1909) K. Derjugin studied in great detail at 

 the Murman Biological Station (Fig. 47) the distribution of the Kola bottom 

 fauna. As a result of his investigation a fundamental work appeared, The Kola 

 Inlet Fauna and the Conditions of Its Existence (1915). It still retains its 

 scientific importance as one of the greatest surveys of this type in world 

 literature. 



Kola Inlet (Fig. 48), the largest inlet on the Murman coast, extends from 

 north to south for about 55 km and has a mouth about 6 km wide. It is 

 a typical fjord in its contour; it has great depths (down to 380 m) and, 

 unlike the nearby Motovksy Bay, it is separated from the open sea by a sub- 

 marine barrier with depths not exceeding 1 50 m. As a result the conditions of 



