Higher Crustaceans in the Upper Sublittoral Zone along the Bulgarian Black Sea Coastal Area

50 вида от Malacostraca бяха установени за горния сублиторал пред българския бряг на Черно море. Най-богата на видове е биоценозата на Zostera spp. -34, следвана от биоценозата на Mytilus galloprovincialis – 25, Cystoseira barbata – 21 вида и биоценозата на пясъчното дъно се оказа най-бедна (само18 вида). Ключови думи: Malacostraca, Crustacea, Zostera spp., Mytilus galloprovincialis, Cystoseira barbata. INTRODUCTION: Higher crustaceans (Malacostraca) are one of the most numerous groups of zoobenthos presented in the Black Sea. They are better expressed in the mussels and algal habitats of the upper sublittoral zone, due to the more favorable feeding conditions and high oxygen level. First data about Malacostraca are reported by Chichkoff (1912), where 48 species, collected till 50 m depth along the Bulgarian Black Sea costal area, are reported. The publications, contribute to the faunistic information for higher crustaceans. Kuneva-Abadjieva (1960a, b, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1974) investigated the species composition, biocoenologic distribution and dynamics of Malacostraca in biocoenosis of Cystoseira barbata and Mytilus galloprovincialis in the upper sublittoral zone of the Bulgarian Black Sea sector. Additional information about the crustaceans, as a part of the zoobenthos in the upper sublittoral zone is found in Kuneva-Abadjieva, Marinov (1977) and Marinov, Kuneva-Abadjieva (1982). Konsulova et al. (1991) reported a significant decrease in the populations of some Decapoda (i.e. Upogebia pusilla) during the summer season of 1989, related to the increased eutrophication in this period. Uzunova (1996) gives evidence on the dynamics of the quantitative parameters of the amphipods from the Mytilus galloprovincialis biocoenosis in Varna Bay. Later on during study of zoobenthos in Zostera spp. beds was established that Crustacea predominate in the species composition (Uzunova, 2010) Nevertheless of the relatively high quantity of publications the historical information about the zoobenthos in the biocoenosis from the upper sublittoral along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast remain incomplete. For this reason the main purpose of the present paper is to present contemporary information about the distribution and composition of the investigated group. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The materials from the upper sublittoral zone were collected at a depth between 1 m and 5 m (fig.1). The total number of samples is 43, 12 of them being from the mussel's overgrowths, 9 – from the seagrass beds, 12 -from Cystoseira overgrowths and 10 -from sandy bottom. Sampling stations are situated along the Bulgarian coast line of Black Sea, namely: Krapetz, Cape Kaliakra, Kavarna, Baltchik, Varna, Emona and Sozopol.