Volume 51, Nº 3 (2025)

The winter supra- and pseudolittoral macroalgal communities of the northeastern part of the Russian Black Sea coast have been described, for the first time, using a floristic classification. A total of three associations, two communities, one alliance, one order, and one class have been identified. The associations and communities have been described for the first time. Diagnostic species for them are provided. The identified phytocenoses are compared with those previously described from the Black Sea based on the dominant classification method. These are also compared with similar communities in the Mediterranean Sea and other European seas. It is shown that the winter vegetation on hard substrates in the supra- and pseudolittoral zones of the northeastern Black Sea consists mainly of simple mono- or oligospecific communities, predominantly comprised of cosmopolitan and subcosmopolitan species, along with a few species of Atlantic and Arctic-boreal origin.

We present data on the individuals of the barred knifejaw Oplegnathus fasciatus (Temminck and Schlegel, 1844) caught (47°49ʹ28ʺ N, 142°03ʹ35ʺ E) in September, 2020, and found under a fishing buoy (46°38ʹ14ʺ N, 141°39ʹ01ʺ E) in August, 2023, in the coastal waters off southwestern Sakhalin. The total length (TL) of the captured fish was 10.2–13.8 cm, and their number was at least 1500 individuals. The maximum TL of the largest individual of the four knifejaw found in the open waters under a Korean fishing buoy was about 8 cm. It is supposed that the fishing buoy and the knifejaw drifting along with it were transported to the waters off southwestern Sakhalin by the Tsushima Current from the Japan coastal waters.

The content of heavy metals (cadmium, copper, nickel, lead, iron, manganese, and zinc) in whole thalli and several fragments of the perennial brown alga Fucus distichus subsp. evanescens (C. Agardh) H.T. Powell was studied in background and polluted areas of the northwestern Sea of Japan in 2020. In the background area (Oprichnik Bay), old parts of F. distichus and branches with receptacles contained 1.5–2-fold more iron, manganese, and nickel than the growing tips. In the polluted area (Rudnaya Bay), differences between thallus parts were found in the concentrations of zinc, cadmium, iron, manganese, and nickel. The degree of heavy metal pollution in Rudnaya Bay was assessed by comparing the concentrations in growing tips of algae with the threshold concentrations. The highest exceedance was found for zinc content, 29–36-fold in the “Kovsh” harbor of Rudnaya Bay. Accompanying pollutants include copper, manganese, cadmium, iron, and lead. The causes of the long-term changes in the ecological status of Rudnaya Bay are discussed.