Importance of fish species in the bottom and near-bottoml biotopes of the Far-Eastern Seas and Pacific waters of Russia

Importance of fish species in the benthal ichthyocoenoses (up to depths of 2000 m) is discussed for the Russian waters in the Far-Eastern Seas and adjacent North-West Pacific on the data of bottom trawl surveys conducted by Pacific Fish. Res. Inst. (TINRO) in 1977–2010. The inverse Simpson index (or polydominance index) was chosen as a measure of dominance; Sorensen-Chekanovsky similarity index was used for comparative analysis of the dominance structure in ichthyocoenoses. The importance is determined for the top 20 species ranked by biomass (94.9 % of the total biomass of all demersal fish on the shelf and 95.8 % — at the continental slope, on average). Poor evenness under strong domination of 2–4 species is noted in the fish communities within the range of 0–2000 m. Walleye pollock Theragra chalcogramma dominate in all regions whereas the subdominants are pacific herring Clupea pallasii, pacific cod Gadus macrocephalus, atka mackerel Pleurogrammus monopterygius, or okhotsk atka mackerel P. azonus, depending on the region. The pollock domination is interrupted at the continental slope of the Bering Sea, where giant grenadier Albatrossia pectoralis dominate. The subdominants at the continental slope of all regions are greenland halibut Reinhardtius hippoglossoides matsuurae, popeye grenadier Coryphaenoides cinereus, pacific herring, pacific sleeper shark Somniosus pacificus, scale-eye plaice Acanthopsetta nadeshnyi, and blackfin flounder Glyptocephalus stelleri. Generalized graphs of the ichthyocoenoses similarity between the studied regions (Okhotsk Sea, Bering Sea, Japan Sea, and Pacific waters at Kamchatka and Kuril Islands) by species structure and composition of the dominant species are presented, separately for the shelf and continental slope.

1. Bakanov, A.I., Quantitative assessment of dominance in ecological communities, in Kolichestvennyye metody ekologii i gidrobiologii (Quantitative methods of ecology and hydrobiology: collection of articles. scientific. tr., dedicated. in memory of A.I. Bakanova), Rosenberg, G.S., ed., Togliatti: Samar. Nauchn. Tsentr Ros. Akad. Nauk, 2005, pp. 37–67.

2. Beklemishev, K.V., Ecological foundations of pelagial biogeography, Ekologiya vodnykh organizmov (Ecology of Aquatic Organisms), Moscow: Nauka, 1966, pp. 14–24.

3. Borets, L.A., Annotirovannyi spisok ryb dal’nevostochnykh morei (Annotated List of Fishes of the Far Eastern Seas), Vladivostok: TINRO-Tsentr, 2000.

4. Volvenko, I.V., New database of bottom trawl stations performed in the Far-Eastern Seas and the North Pacific in 1977–2010, Izv. Tikhookean. Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Rybn. Khoz. Okeanogr., 2014, vol. 177, pp. 3–24. doi 10.26428/1606-9919-2014-177-3-24

5. Dulepova, E.P., Sravnitel’naya bioproduktivnost’ makroekosistem dal’nevostochnykh morei (Comparative Bioproductivity of Macroecosystems in Far Eastern Seas), Vladivostok: TINRO-Tsentr, 2002.

6. Zhukov, D.A., Biologiya povedeniya: gumoral’nyye mekhanizmy (Biology of behavior: humoral mechanisms: modern), St. Petersburg: Rech’, 2007.

7. Shuntov, V.P., Volvenko, I.V., Kulik, V.V., and Bocharov, L.N., Makrofauna bentali zapadnoi chasti Beringova morya: tablitsy vstrechaemosti, chislennosti i biomassy. 1977–2010 (Benthic Macrofauna of the Western Part of the Bering Sea: Occurrence, Abundance, and Biomass. 1977–2010), Shuntov, V.P. and Bocharov, L.N., eds., Vladivostok: TINRO-Tsentr, 2014.

8. Shuntov, V.P., Volvenko, I.V., Kulik, V.V., and Bocharov, L.N., Makrofauna bentali Okhotskogo morya: tablitsy vstrechaemosti, chislennosti i biomassy. 1977–2010 (Benthic Macrofauna of the Okhotsk Sea: Occurrence, Abundance, and Biomass. 1977–2010), Shuntov, V.P. and Bocharov, L.N., eds., Vladivostok: TINRO-Tsentr, 2014.

9. Shuntov, V.P., Volvenko, I.V., Kulik, V.V., and Bocharov, L.N., Makrofauna bentali severozapadnoi chasti Tikhogo okeana: tablitsy vstrechaemosti, chislennosti i biomassy. 1977–2008 (Benthic Macrofauna of the Northwestern Pacific: Occurrence, Abundance, and Biomass. 1977–2008), Shuntov, V.P. and Bocharov, L.N., eds., Vladivostok: TINRO-Tsentr, 2014.

10. Shuntov, V.P., Volvenko, I.V., Kulik, V.V., and Bocharov, L.N., Makrofauna bentali severozapadnoi chasti Yaponskogo morya: tablitsy vstrechaemosti, chislennosti i biomassy. 1978–2010 (Benthic Macrofauna of the Northwestern Part of Japan (East) Sea: Occurrence, Abundance, and Biomass. 1978–2010), Shuntov, V.P. and Bocharov, L.N., eds., Vladivostok: TINRO-Tsentr, 2014.

11. Moiseev, P.A., Biotopic approach to the study of biological resources of the World Ocean, Biotopicheskaya osnova raspredeleniya morskikh organizmov (Biotopic basis for the distribution of marine organisms), Moscow: Nauka, 1986, vol. 27, pp. 3–6.

12. Magurran, A.E., Ecological Diversity and Its Measurement, London: Croom Helm, 1988.

13. Osipov, S.V., The importance of a species in a biocoenosis, a class of biocoenoses, and a region: a review of combined indexes, Biol. Bull. (Moscow), 2021, vol. 48, no. 3, pp. 379–393. doi 10.1134/S1062359021030109

14. Parin, N.V., Ikhtiofauna of the seas of Russia: biological diversity and fishery potential, Izv. Tikhookean. Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Rybn. Khoz. Okeanogr., 2004, vol. 137, pp. 226–231.

15. Parin, N.V., Ikhtiofauna okeanskoi epipelagialy (Ichthyofauna of the Ocean Epipelagic Zone), Moscow: Nauka, 1968.

16. Parin, N.V., Evseenko, S.A., and Vasiljeva, E.D., Ryby morei Rossii: annotirovannyi katalog (Fishes of Russian Seas: Annotated Catalogue), Moscow: KMK, 2014.

17. Pesenko, Yu.A., Printsipy i metody kolichestvennogo analiza v faunisticheskikh issledovaniyakh (Principles and methods of quantitative analysis in faunal studies), Moscow: Nauka, 1982.

18. Sukhanov, V.V. and Ivanov, O.A., Soobshchestva nektona v severo-zapadnoy chasti Yaponskogo morya (Communities of nekton in north-western part of the Sea of Japan), Vladivostok: TINROTsentr, 2009.

19. Shuntov, V.P., Biologiya dal’nevostochnykh morei Rossii (Biology of the Far Eastern Seas of Russia), Vladivostok: TINRO-Tsentr, 2016, vol. 2.