THE BERING SEA 837 



northeastern coast by the epifauna, and off the southwestern by Echinarach- 

 nius parma. 



Data on the qualitative and quantitative distribution of benthos in the 

 eastern part of the Bering Sea are given in A. Neiman's paper (1960). This 

 investigator has drawn a picture of the biocoenotic distribution of bottom- 

 living fauna (Fig. 426). 



There is a considerable difference in the composition and quantitative 

 distribution of the population between the northwestern shallow, the only 



Fig. 425. Distribution of benthos biomass (g/m 2 ) in 

 the Bay of Anadyr (Vinogradova, 1954). 



large shallow in the Far Eastern Seas, and the southwestern and southern 

 deep parts of the Sea. The main bottom-living population of the Bering Sea 

 shelf is composed of bivalves, then come the Echinodermata (mainly Ophiura) 

 and Polychaeta. The oozes south and southwest of St Lawrence Island have 

 the richest population, reaching at times a biomass of 500 g/m 2 at depths of 

 50 to 150 m. The population of the sands is scarce, furnishing a biomass of 

 less than 50 g/m 2 . 



The eastern and western sides of the Bering Sea have a similar fauna. At a 

 temperature not higher than 3° the predominant forms are as follows : among 

 Mollusca Macoma calcarea, Leda pernula, Nucula tenuis, Serripes groen- 

 landicus, Yoldia hyperborea, Y. traciaeformis and Cardiwn cUiatum ; among 

 Echinodermata Ophiura sarsi, Echinarachnius parma, Brisaster sp., Cteno- 

 discus crispatus and Cucumaria calcigera. 



It has been possible to draw a general chart of the quantitative distribution 



