PATTERNS OF SPECIES DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF ICHTHYOPLANKTON OFF THE CRIMEAN COAST IN JULY-AUGUST 2017
Summer ichthyoplankton was studied off the southern coast of Crimea in 2017. Eggs and larvae of 31 species of fish were identified. Maximum values of ichthyoplankton abundance were registered in the zones of coastal cyclones gyres. Due to the significant number of ichthyoplankton species and the lack of well pronounced dominance, high indices of species diversity were recorded in these zones, comparable with those in the coastal waters of the sea. The number of species of ichthyoplankton on the shelf was comparable to that in July 1989, when the biomass of the predatory ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi had not yet reached the maximum values.