Whoever has not been at least once on the Black Sea coast, did not dive into a gentle transparent wave, did not bask on pebble beaches under the rays of the summer or autumn sun, he must have lost a lot! And in the warm, like fresh milk, water, of course, we have repeatedly met the inhabitants of the Black Sea: dangerous and not so. About who lives in one of the most unique seas on the planet, read our article.
Uniqueness of the environment
The Black Sea, both in composition and in nature, is inhabited by living creatures and vegetation in a unique and very peculiar way. It is divided in depth into two different zones. To a depth of 150, sometimes 200 meters, there is an oxygen zone where the inhabitants of the Black Sea live. Everything below 200 meters is a hydrogen sulfide zone, deprived of life and occupying more than 85% by volume of water mass. So accommodation is only possible where there is oxygen (less than 15% of the territory).
Who lives here?
The inhabitants of the Black Sea are algae and animals. The first - several hundred species, the second - more than two and a half thousand. Of these, 500 are unicellular, 1900 are invertebrates, 185 are fish, 4 species are mammals.
Phytoplankton
The Black Sea … Its inhabitants are all kinds of algae: ceratium, peridinium, exuvilla and some others. At the very beginning of spring, there is a peak in the growth of algae. Sometimes even water seems to change color, becoming from turquoise and blue brown. This is due to increased plankton division (flowering water). Rhizolines, hetocerosos, and scletonemia intensively breed. Whereas the mass reproduction of phytoplankton is dated to the beginning - the middle of summer. Among the bottom algae, phyllophore can be noted, which makes up more than 90% of the total mass. Phyllophora is common in the northwest. Cystozira, another algae, is more common on the southern coast of the Crimean part. There are many fry that feed and live among the algae (more than 30 species of fish).
Benthic animals
Among the animals that live on the ground or in the ground of the bottom of the sea (benthos) are various invertebrates: crustaceans and crayfish, worms, rhizopods, sea anemones, and mollusks. Gastropods also belong to benthos, for example, the well-known rapana, and other inhabitants of the Black Sea. The list goes on: mussel, scallop, molluscs - plate-gill. Fish: flounder, stingray, sea dragon, ruff and others. They make up a single ecosystem. And a single food chain.
Jellyfish
The permanent inhabitants of the Black Sea are jellyfish, large and small. Cornerot - a large jellyfish, very common. The size of its dome sometimes reaches half a meter. Cornerot is poisonous; it can cause injuries similar to nettle burns. They cause slight redness, burning, sometimes blisters. So that this large jellyfish with a slightly purple dome does not sting, you need to take it with your hand to the side, holding the top and not touching the tentacles.
Aurelia is the smallest jellyfish in the Black Sea. She is not as poisonous as her brother, but still meeting her must also be avoided.
Mollusks
Sea inhabitants of the Black Sea - mussels, oysters, scallops, raps. All these mollusks are edible and are raw materials for delicious dishes. For example, oysters and mussels are bred on purpose. Oysters are very tenacious and can go without water for about two weeks. They can live up to 30 years. Their meat is considered delicious.
Mussels are less sophisticated. Sometimes in a large shell they find a pearl, usually pinkish in color. Mussels - marine water filters. At the same time, everything that has been filtered is accumulated in them. Therefore, they can be enjoyed only with careful processing, and it is better to avoid eating mussels that have grown in the port or in other places with heavily polluted water.
The marine inhabitants of the Black Sea are scallops. This peculiar mollusk can move in water using reactive force. He quickly slams shutter shells and is carried by a stream of water to a distance of more than a meter. Scallops also have hundreds of useless eyes. But with all this, this clam is blind! These are the mysterious inhabitants of the sea.
In the Black Sea, there is also a rapana. This mollusk is a predator, and its prey is the same mussels and oysters. But he has very tasty meat resembling sturgeon, which makes an excellent soup.
Crabs
There are eighteen species in total in the water area. All of them do not reach large sizes. The largest is red-chested. But he is not more than 20 centimeters in diameter.
Fishes
About 180 species of various fish live in the Black Sea, including: sturgeon, beluga, hamsa, herring, tyulka, horse mackerel, tuna, flounder, goby. A swordfish rarely swims. There is a seahorse, a needle fish, a sea cock, a monkfish.
Of commercial fish - mullet, of which there are three species, pelengas imported from the Sea of Japan and become an object of fishing. Due to severe water pollution, the number of mullet has recently decreased.
Among the original specimens - stargazer fish or sea cow. It digs deep into the silt, so that one antennae is exposed on the surface, which resembles the appearance of a worm. The tendril attracts small fish and eats them.
A sea needle and horse do not spawn in water, but in skin folds on the backs of males, where it is located right up to the withdrawal of fry. Interestingly, the eyes of these fish can look in different directions and rotate autonomously relative to each other.
Horse mackerel is distributed throughout the coastal waters of the sea. Its length is 10-15 centimeters. Weight - up to 75 grams. Lives sometimes up to three years. It feeds on small fish and zooplankton.
Pelamida is a relative of mackerel. It reaches a length of up to 75 centimeters, lives up to 10 years. This is a predatory fish, feeding and spawning in the Black Sea, goes through the Bosphorus for the winter.
Gobies are represented by 10 species. The largest is martovik, or toad. The most numerous is a round log.
Zelenushki in the sea - 8 species. They feed on worms and shellfish. During the spawning period, nests are arranged between the stones.
Flounder-Kalkan is also found everywhere in the Black Sea. She eats fish and crabs. Reaches a weight of 12 kilograms. Other species of flounder are also represented.
Stingray stingray is a relative of the shark. He eats crabs, shellfish, shrimp. It has a barbed needle on its tail, equipped with a poisonous gland. Her injection for a person is very painful, sometimes even fatal.
The speaker, or sea bass, often comes in the spring and in the summer, when he visits these waters for spawning. It feeds on zooplankton. The weight of the perch barely reaches 100 grams. It is considered one of the main types of fishing for an amateur fisherman.
Garfish - a fish longer than half a meter, swept, with an elongated beak. Spawns in May - August. Migrates and hibernates in the Sea of Marmara.
Lufar belongs to predatory and herd fish. It weighs up to 10 kilograms and reaches a meter in length. The body of the fish is oblong on the sides. The mouth is large, with large jaws. It feeds only on fish. Previously considered commercial.
Sharks
Katran (or sea dog) rarely grows up to two meters. A cat shark (scillium) - more than a meter. These two species of sharks found in the Black Sea pose no danger to humans. But for many species of fish, these are cruel predators. The meat of sharks (as well as their liver and fins) is used to prepare various dishes of the Black Sea cuisine. From the liver of Katran, a medicine is made that blocks the growth of cancer cells.
Katran has a streamlined body, a crescent-shaped mouth and sharp teeth located in several rows. His body is strewn with small but sharp spikes (hence the nickname is a prickly shark). Katran is a live-bearing fish. The female produces up to 15 small fry at a time. The katran keeps and feeds in packs. In spring and autumn - close to the coast, in winter - at the depths.
Inhabitants of the Black Sea - dolphins (toothed whales)
There are three kinds of them in these waters. The largest are bottlenose dolphins. Slightly smaller - whiskers. The smallest are porpoises, or azov.
Bottlenose dolphins - the most common inhabitant of dolphinariums. For science, this species is of great importance. It is bottlenose dolphins that are studied by scientists around the world for the presence of reason. They are born circus performers. Bottlenose dolphins with pleasure perform various tricks. It seems that they really have a mind. This is not even training, but some kind of cooperation and mutual understanding of a dolphin and a person. Bottlenose dolphins understand only affection and encouragement. Punishment is not perceived at all, then any trainer ceases to exist for them.
Bottlenose dolphins live up to 30 years. Her weight sometimes reaches 300 kilograms. Body length - up to two and a half meters. These dolphins are well adapted to the aquatic environment. The front fins act as steering rudders and brakes at the same time. The tail fin is a powerful propeller that allows you to develop a decent speed (over 60 km / h).
Bottlenose dolphins have keen sight and hearing. They feed on fish and shellfish (eat up to 25 kilograms per day). May hold their breath for more than 10 minutes. Dive to a depth of 200 meters. Body temperature is 36.6 degrees, like in humans. Dolphins breathe, periodically rising outside, by air. In fact, they suffer from the same diseases as people. Bottlenose dolphins sleep half a meter from the surface, under water, periodically opening their eyes.
Dolphin lifestyle is herd and family (up to ten generations together). The head of the family is a female. Male individuals are kept in a separate clan, showing interest in females mainly only during mating.
Bottlenose dolphins have tremendous power. But as a rule, they do not apply it to a person. Dolphins have the most friendly relations with people, as if with brothers in their minds. Over the entire long history of the relationship between humans and dolphins, not a single attempt was made to offend the "older brother." But people often infringe on the rights of dolphins, putting experiments on them, imprisoning them in dolphinariums.
Much has been written about the language of dolphins. We will not claim, like some scientists, that he is richer than human speech. However, it contains a huge set of sounds and gestures, which allows us to talk about a certain mind of dolphins. And the amount of information that they can transmit, and the large (larger than that of a person) brain is strong evidence of this.
It remains to add that seals are found among mammals on the Black Sea, but in recent years there have been very few of them due to the harmful activities of humans.
On the land
Not only marine inhabitants and the human tribe feed on seafood. Some species of birds living on land, forage for themselves in the water. Inhabitants of sushi, forage for food in the sea - these are gulls and cormorants. They feed on fish. Cormorant, for example, can swim and dive perfectly, eating a large amount of fish, even when fed. The features of its pharynx allow swallowing quite a lot of prey. Thus, birds are the main inhabitants of the land, food in the sea of the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus and Crimea.
