240 BIOLOGY OF THE SEAS OF THE U.S.S.R. 



the west through the straits and round the northern island of Novaya Zemlya. 

 Of the 55 macrophytes inhabiting the Kara Sea, 49 species (89 per cent) 

 are common to the western shores of Novaya Zemlya, and 46 species (82 per 

 cent) to the Murman coast. However, the Kara Sea macroflora contains mostly 

 cold-water forms, while the warm-water ones decrease. The following Arctic 

 forms are characteristic of the Kara Sea : Laminaria agardhii, L. solidungula, 

 L. nigripes, Fucus evanescens, F. inflatus, Phyllaria dermatodea, Omphalophyl- 

 lum ulvaceum, Turner ell septentrionalis and Sarcophyllis arctica. Apart from 

 these the following are the most widely distributed forms in the Kara Sea: 

 Chaetomorpha melagonium, Pylaiella litoralis, Chaetopteris plumosa, Des- 

 marestia aculeata, Ptilota pectinata, Phyllophora brodiaei, Ph. interrupta, 

 Rhodimenia palmata, Delesseria sinuosa, Odonthalia dentata, Rhodomela 

 lycopodioides, Polysiphonia arctica and Eutora cristata. 



Qualitative composition of bottom fauna. At the present time it is still impossible 

 to give a complete list of the Kara Sea bottom fauna since the identification 

 of individual groups is neither uniform nor complete. 



Some groups of Kara Sea benthos are as varied as those of the Barents Sea. 

 According to G. Gorbunov's (1939) count 1 ,200 species of bottom-living animal 

 forms have now been identified in the Kara Sea {Table 104). 



It has to be kept in mind when considering this list that 91 forms given in it 

 for the Kara Sea have so far been found only in the straits but not in the Sea 

 itself. On the other hand, some benthos groups have not yet been properly 

 studied. Taking this into account one may assume that the number of species 

 of the bottom animal forms actually living in the Kara Sea is no fewer than 

 1,500 (about 60 per cent of the Barents Sea fauna). 



Within the limits of the Sea itself the highest specific variety of the bottom 

 fauna is found in two areas. First of all along the eastern shores of Novaya 

 Zemlya and partly in the Baydaratskaya Guba and off the coast of Yamal, 

 whither the Barents Sea waters carry its varied fauna. The fauna is brought 

 largely by waters skirting Novaya Zemlya to the north and through the Kara 

 Gates, and to a lesser extent through Matochkin Shar and Yugorsky Shar. 

 This fauna is adapted mainly to the shallows of the Sea outside the zone of 

 brown mud. 



Secondly a varied fauna of the bathyal and abyssal layers of the north 

 Atlantic and the central parts of the Arctic basin penetrates the Kara Sea 

 from the north. This fauna is distributed mostly about the great depths of the 

 Sea since it is very tolerant of the conditions of life of the brown mud. How- 

 ever, some individual members of this fauna move to places outside the limits 

 of the brown mud, where the water is less deep. 



G. Gorbunov (1946) notes that one of the Sadko stations recorded 200 

 species of different animal forms at 698 m near the northern end of the slope 

 tending towards the greater depths, between Franz Joseph Land and Sever- 

 nay a Zemlya. 



As one moves from the northern parts of the Sea into the southern, and 

 from the shores of Novaya Zemlya into the central part of the Sea, the quali- 

 tative variety of the fauna decreases, while the quantitative predominance of 



