Siberian Federal University

Issue

Journal of Siberian Federal University. Biology. 2026 19 (3)

Authors

Ponomarev, Vasily I.

Contact information

Ponomarev, Vasily I. : Institute of Biology of Komi Science Centre of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Syktyvkar, Russian Federation); ; ORCID: 0000-0002-0863-736X

Keywords

ichthyofauna; fish population structure; watersheds; glacial lakes; Bolshezemelskaya Tundra; Arctic

Abstract

To date, the ichthyofauna of the vast majority of water systems in the Bolshezemelskaya Tundra remains unstudied. The present paper reports results of a comparative study of the original data on the composition and structure of the fish populations in the watershed lakes in the central part of the Bolshezemelskaya Tundra. The samples were collected in September 2023–2025 using standard research methods. Additionally, we used our own samples from Lake Naulto collected in July 1992. The current study reports the first data on the composition and structure of the fish populations of three glacial lakes: Lakes Tedinto and Khudyakhaty, belonging to the basins of rivers directly flowing into the Barents Sea, and Lake Verkhnie Kolvaty, contributing to the flow into the Pechora River. In total, 14 fish species of seven families were identified in the study watershed lakes. Salmonidae species were the most widely represented ones (43 %). The other families included one or two species each. Representatives of the Arctic freshwater faunal complex dominated in all lakes (from 44 % in Lake Khudyakhaty to 56 % in Lake Tedinto). A comparison of the ichthyofauna of glacial lakes belonging to basins of different rivers revealed both similarities (the common core of the ichthyofauna) and differences in the composition of fish species, reflecting the uniqueness of each lake. European grayling of Lake Tedinto turned out to be the most abundant species not only compared with Lakes Khudyakhaty and Verkhnie Kolvaty, but also among all the species inhabiting these water bodies. The indices determined in the present study suggested the highest diversity of the fish population in Lake Khudyakhaty and the lowest in Lake Tedinto. This study shows that the fish populations of the basins of the Bolshezemelskaya Tundra rivers that directly flow into the Barents Sea and are located east of the Chornaya River basin do not contain ide, roach, and perch, which are common in the basins of the Usa and Pechora Rivers

Pages

505–521

EDN

SRDHSZ

Paper at repository of SibFU

https://elib.sfu-kras.ru/handle/2311/160152

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).