Re-finding of sipunculoids (Sipuncula) in the Kola Bay’s area of the Barents Sea in 2017-2018

• Published in: IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
• Main Authors: Garbul, E, Pavlova, L, Garbul (Antsiferova), A
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: IOP Publishing 2020
• Subjects: Barents Sea; Deryugin; Petersen; Kola Bay
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/539/1/012191; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/539/1/012191/pdf; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/539/1/012191

Abstract Sipunculoid fauna of the Kola Bay was first described by K. M. Deryugin in 1915 on the benthos samples collected using a dredge and Sigsbee trawl. Further studies of zoobenthos applying quantitative methods (Petersen grab), conducted by V. I. Zatsepin in the 1930s revealed the presence of dense colony of these invertebrates in the water area of the Kola Bay. Further, the formation of new towns and settlements, infrastructure development, construction of port and industrial facilities, military and naval bases on the bay’s coast led to the rapid integrated pollution of the water area and bottom sediment, which consequently caused the rapid regression of Sipuncula colonies. In 2003, near the village Mishukovo, the latest instance of worms related to the phylum Sipuncula was detected. Further large-scale benthic surveys conducted in the southern, middle and Northern bends of the Kola Bay, indicated a complete lack sipuncuolids in the study area. New Sipuncula settlements, according to the survey conducted in 2017-2018 in the Kola Bay, make assertions about the significant reduction of human-induced impact on the fauna of the bay.