Benthic fauna of Blagopoluchiya Bay (Novaya Zemlya Archipelago,Kara Sea)

The benthic fauna was studied in the Blagopoluchiya Bay (Kara Sea, Novaya Zemlya Archipelago) during an expedition of the R/V Professor Shtokman in autumn 2013. The inner basin of the bay, with depths of around 150 m, is separated from the outer slope of Novaya Zemlya by a shoal 30 m in depth. Six macrobenthic communities were described at nine stations (25 bottom grab samples) taken along a transect from the inner part of the bay to the outer part of the slope. The depths, position on the transect axis and sediment types were the major factors influencing the distribution of the communities. The benthic abundance and biomass in the inner and outer parts of the bay did not differ significantly. The diversity of macrobenthic organisms (α-diversity as the number of species in the sample and β-diversity as the rate of increase in species number in the area) was lower in the inner part of the bay. The intertidal zone (littoral) has been described. The littoral fauna was very poor; it comprised only the amphipods Gammarus setosus inhabiting the near-surface area.