ORIGINAL PAPER Zoobenthos of the Cheshskaya Bay (southeastern Barents Sea): spatial distribution and community structure in relation to environmental factors N. V. Denisenko Æ S. G. Denisenko Æ K. K. Lehtonen Æ A.-B. Andersin Æ H. R. Sandler Received: 24 August 2004 / Revised: 24 October 2006 / Accepted: 24 October 2006 / Published online: 13 February 2007 Ó Springer-Verlag 2007 Abstract Structural and functional characteristics of zoobenthos of the Cheshskaya Bay (SE Barents Sea) were studied at 21 stations in June/July 1995. Strong prevailing cyclonic and tidal currents result in rela- tively uniform temperature and salinity in the area. Sediments consist mainly of sand and pebbles, while the flux of suspended matter from rivers locally in- creases the share of finer fractions. Analysis of species composition (419 taxa), abundance (up to 4,200 ind m – 2 and up to 29,000 ind m –2 with juveniles) and biomass (up to >6,000 g wet wt m –2 ) indicates high species richness in most parts of the bay, especially in the northeast. Analysis of community structure using pro- duction characteristics of species revealed a general predominance of suspension feeders partitioned into seven communities. The dominant species of these communities were Mytilus edulis and Balanus crenatus (Type 1), B. crenatus (Type 2), Modiolus modiolus and Verruca stroemia (Type 3), Flustra foliacea and V. stroemia (Type 4), Hydrallmania falcata (Type 5), V. stroemia and Chirona hameri (Type 6), and Ophelia limacina (Type 7). The structure of the communities is mainly regulated by sediment type, water depth and, to some extent, by riverine input. Keywords Zoobenthos  Abundance  Biomass community and trophic structure  Cheshskaya Bay  Barents Sea Introduction Owing to its unique geomorphology, the Cheshskaya Bay (SE Barents Sea) differs noticeably from other embayments in the Barents Sea. Several geologic and oceanographic investigations in the region since the first decades in the early twentieth century showed that its sediments consist mainly of well-sorted sands, gravel and pebbles with variable, but relatively small portions of mud (Klenova 1929; Tarasov 1974), as result of the permanent cyclonic current strengthened by the influence of tidal currents (Lednev 1945). The high concentration of suspended organic carbon in the bay originates from river discharges (Garkavaya and Posdnyakova 1968; Medvedev and Potechina 1986). The earlier zoobenthic studies were mostly descriptive (Gurjanova 1929; Brotskaya and Zenkevich 1932; Pushkin 1968) or examined only specific taxo- nomic groups (Gostilovskaya 1968; Rjepishevskiy 1968). According to these studies, zoobenthic struc- ture and distribution were considerably different from those observed elsewhere in the Barents Sea. The major part of the sublittoral zone of the bay was occupied by suspension and deposit feeders with the presence of an estuarine species complex close to Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00300-006-0232-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. N. V. Denisenko (&)  S. G. Denisenko (&) Zoological Institute RAS, Universitetskaya nab. 1, 199034 St Petersburg, Russia e-mail: ndenisenko@zin.ru S. G. Denisenko e-mail: dest@zin.ru K. K. Lehtonen  A.-B. Andersin  H. R. Sandler Finnish Institute of Marine Research, P.O. Box 2, 00561 Helsinki, Finland 123 Polar Biol (2007) 30:735–746 DOI 10.1007/s00300-006-0232-4