by Boris SIRENKO, Head of the Laboratory of Marine Studies, RAS Zoological Institute (St. Petersburg), Sergei GAGAEV, Cand. Sc. (Biol), senior research assistant of the same laboratory Studies carried out by a team of research divers from the RAS Zoological Institute during the 52nd and 54th Russian Antarctic Expeditions (2006-2008, 2008-2010) formed a basis for hydrobiological monitoring in the Prydz Bay of the Sea of Commonwealth. Studies of biocenoses at the depths of 3 to 43 m resulted in collection of about 600 species of bottom plants and animals from the coastal water of the sixth continent and revealed peculiarities of spreading of the flora and fauna in this region. Regions of diving expeditions carried out by the RAS Zoological Institute in 1965-2009 (red points). стр. 23 A BIT OF HISTORY Russian diving studies in the Antarctic Regions started in the middle of the 20th century. During the summer of 1965-1966, a team headed by Mikhail Propp (Murmansk Marine Biological Institute, USSR Academy of Sciences) and including Alexander Pushkin (the same Institute) and Yevgeny Gruzov (Zoological Institute) carried out more than 160 diving sessions in the coastal waters near the Mirny Station. Abundant flora and fauna were discovered under the two-meter ice at a depth of up to 50 m by specialists. The results proved to be so important and interesting that a year later the hydrobiological team was again included in the Soviet Antarctic Expedition. It was headed by Yevgeny Gruzov and included Alexander Pushkin (diver), Valentin Lyuleyev and Sergei Rybakov (specialists in underwater equipment). The research was carried out on the South Shetland Islands, Peter I Island, and areas of water near Molodyozhnaya, Mirny, and Novolazarevskaya stations. In the expedition of 1970-1972 the studies were continued by a team including Yevgeny Gruzov, Yuri Giginyak, Alexander Sheremetevsky, Valentin Lyuleyev, Sergei Rybakov, and Vladimi ... Читать далее