About finding of Lepidochitona cinerea (Linnaeus, 1767) in the Tsemes Bay of the Black Sea

Abstract

During the summer and winter periods of 2022–2023. studies of armored mollusks living on natural hard substrates in the pseudolittoral zone of Tsemes Bay were carried out. The search for chitons was carried out along the coast of the bay: from the Central City Beach of Novorossiysk to Cape Khako. For the first time in Tsemes Bay, a local population of Lepidochitona cinerea (Linnaeus, 1767) was discovered on substrates of sedimentary origin. 34 specimens of L. cinerea were found with a maximum shell length of 8 mm. The age of the largest individuals was determined from the annual rings of the apex of the first shell shield and was three years. The species is distributed in the upper horizon of the pseudolittoral zone of Cape of Love and is confined to supralittoral baths. It is assumed that the presence of L. cinerea in the water area is due precisely to the presence of this bionomic type of habitat – supralittoral baths, which are not expressed in other studied areas of the bay. Information on the geographic distribution and biotopic сonfined of L. cinerea has been updated, and the influence of ecological, hydrochemical and geomorphological features of the biotope on the presence of the species is considered.

Keywords: Lepidochitona cinerea, pseudolittoral, supralittoral baths, Tsemes Bay, Black Sea