Fauna of hypersaline lakes of the Crimea (Ukraine)

Abstract

Saline water bodies are critic, often extreme habitats with a small number of species. The small number of species can, however, be organized in different assemblages typical of the salt category dissolved into the water. For the first time a wide faunal study has been conducted (from 2002 to 2006) on hypersaline lakes of the Crimea peninsula (Ukraine) allowing us to recognize a total of 40 categories of zooplankton from 10 lakes in representation of the whole lake habitat of the peninsula. The only lake with water evidently influenced by the sea hosted the highest number of categories (20). The lowest number of categories (5) has been found in the lake which showed the highest salinity concentration. Apart the lake conditioned from sea water, other two categories of lakes were recognized: thalassohaline and atalassohaline on the basis of the species composition.