A scientific expedition was completed on the ship “Professor Vodyanitsky” in Sevastopol. This was reported by the press service of the technopolis “Era”.
Scientists from the Southern Seas Institute of Biology (FRC INSBU) joined the expedition. Kovalevsky RAS and colleagues from other universities. The Mission had several heterogeneous missions; scientists spent 26 days at sea.
One of the scientific groups investigated the phenomenon of water bioluminescence, when the water began to glow slightly due to the accumulation of microorganisms. This is one of the unique signs of the existence of life in the water column, and to study it, the scientists used an autonomous multichannel bathyphotometer. It catches the glow around it and can dive to depths of up to 200 meters.
Other experts conducted a study of the biodiversity of the small inhabitants of the water column. They were interested in the spatial distribution of fish larvae, game animals and plankton suitable for feeding. Evaluation of the prankton distribution is important in terms of understanding the biological productivity of the Black Sea waters in terms of fisheries.
Finally, the researchers studied the physiology and nutrition of ctenophores. “Comb jellyfish are ancient jelly-like predators, more than 500 million years old, that feed heavily on zooplankton as well as eggs and larvae of fish and shellfish. In the 1980s, new species of ctenophores were accidentally introduced from South America. Expedition chief Viktor Melnikov said.” They multiplied explosively and nearly destroyed the Black Sea ecosystem, destroying almost all forage plankton stocks, bottom animal larvae, eggs and fish larvae.