ON THE COMPLEX EXPEDITIONS TO THE MOGILNOYE LAKE (KILDIN ISLAND, BARENTS SEA) IN 2011 AND 2012
In June – July 2011 and July 2012 scientists of organizations: Polar Scientific Research Institute of Marine Fishery and Oceanology named after N. M. Knipovich (Murmansk), Institute of General Genetics named after N. I. Vavilov of Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow), M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University conducted joint expeditions on the meromictic, relict the Mogilnoye lake (Barents Sea, Kildin island). The aims of the expeditions included study of the Mogilnoye lake stability and investigation of Kildin cod – the only in the world cod population inhabiting for a long time in complete reproductive isolation in a small lake with an unstable hydrological and hydrobiological regimes. The water temperature and salinity, the state of the bottom, morphometric characteristics of the lake, the water regime were determined. All investigations on the Kildin cod were made with its short-term withdrawal from the water for sampling and determination of the basic biological parameters (length, weight, morphometry, genetic analysis) on the basis of "catch-and-release" method. The results of the complex studies of the Mogilnoye lake generally indicate stable state of the lake and lake subspecies of Atlantic cod – Kildin cod.