450 



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



Wodjanitzky gives the total biomass of the Black Sea zoobenthos as 1 5 to 30 

 million tons. This amount is possibly a little overestimated. L. Arnoldi (1941)* 

 {Table 184) gives more accurate data, but only for a small area of the southern 

 coast of the Crimea (from Cape Fiolent to Alupka). 



Table 184 



Environment 



Biocoenosis 



Census of the population per m 2 



Mean Mean Minimum Maximum 



number of biomass biomass biomass 

 specimens g/m 2 g/m 2 g/m 2 



I. Coastal pure Venus gallina 



sand 



II. Silty sand 



III. Mussel 

 mud 



IV. Phaseolin 

 ooze 



Divaricella divaricata 



Mactra subtruncata 



Donax venustus 



Diogenes pugilator 



Tellinafabula 



Venus gallina 



Mactra subtruncata 



Divaricella divaricata 



Tapes lineatus 



Gouldia minima 



Modiola adriatica 



Meretrix rudis 



Mytilus galloprovincialis var. 



frequens 

 Meretrix rudis 

 Modiola adriatica 

 Cardium simile 

 Mactra subtruncata 

 Syndesmya alba 

 Modiola phaseolina 

 Modiola phaseolina 

 Molgula euprocta 

 Terebellides stromii 

 Syndesmya alba 

 Cardium simile 

 Melinna adriatica 



1,926 



1,844 



108 



388 



8-7 



140 



262 



767 



825 667 135 2,076 



2,258 138 



. 654 



Mean indices of biomass and the population-density per m 2 of the four bio- 

 coenoses listed in Table 184 can be calculated from Arnoldi's data for a num- 

 ber of dominant and characteristic benthos species {Table 185). 



Moreover, the Mytilaster lineatus biomass of 382 g/m 2 at 2,900 specimens/ 

 m 2 and the maximum biomass for Modiola phaseolina of 119 g/m 2 at 10,700 

 specimens/m 2 recorded by Arnoldi should be noted. These data closely 

 approach V. Wodjanitzky's result. 



Nikitin (1949) thinks that the mean benthos biomass for the Caucasian 

 coast (not counting the mussel and oyster banks) can be taken as 136 g/m 2 . If 

 we use this amount for the populated part of the whole Sea we shall obtain a 



* L. Arnoldi writes (1941) that the Karkinitsky Bay zoobenthos is in its biomass poorer 

 than that of the open parts of the Sea, being on the average about 100 g/m 2 . 



