Biologiya Morya

In recent years, marine viruses have evolved into a distinct branch of virology, yet they still represent a sort of “dark matter”, and their role and significance in the evolution and functioning of Earth's biosphere remain unclear. The widespread implementation of the primerless sequencing methods in routine laboratory practice has streamlined the development of marine virology from initial observations of virus-like particles in seawater, once deemed exotic, to comprehensive generalizations that reshape our understanding of global problems in the World Ocean. They include the continuous depletion of biological resources and diversity, marine pollution, and global climate change. Nevertheless, in terms of virology, the World Ocean remains a true aqua incognita, and marine virology, as a subset of general virology, and marine biology are just at the initial stages of their development, standing on the cusp of new discoveries. Those discoveries have the potential to reveal fundamental processes in the origin and evolution of life on Earth, accelerate the development of novel technologies, and even foster innovative approaches to reshaping the noosphere. The aim of this review is to draw scientific attention to the numerous problematic aspects of viruses in the World Ocean. It covers the main topics such as the current taxonomy of marine viruses, their role in marine ecosystems, the presence of viruses in marine species and related diseases, and the role of marine viruses in the context of global climate change, focusing on unexplored area and outlining directions for future research studies.

A comparative assessment of the content of Fe, Zn, Cu, Cd, Mn, Pb, and Ni in the soft tissues of bivalve mollusks Mytilus trossulus, M. galloprovincialis and their hybrid forms from Minonosok Bay of Peter the Great Bay (Sea of Japan) has been made. No significant differences in the accumulation of Fe and Cd in the tissues of all studied groups of mollusks were found. It has been shown that the hybrid forms of these species had more intensive growth, and against this background, they accumulated significantly lower concentrations of such metals as Cu, Mn, Pb and Ni in their soft tissues compared to the parental species. A significant negative correlation has been found between the accumulation of these metals in the tissues of mollusks and the length and weight of their shells and whole soft tissues. M. trossulus, which had a significantly lower weight of valves and soft tissues, differed from M. galloprovincialis in the accumulation of significantly higher concentrations of Zn, for which no relationship has been found between its content and all the studied size and weight characteristics. The conducted testing has not revealed any significant dependence of the accumulation of all studied metals, with the exception of Pb, in the tissues of mollusks on their condition index. The results obtained indicate the need to take into account the above features of the trace metal composition of the soft tissues of the studied species, when using them in monitoring environmental pollution with heavy metals.

The abundance of eggs of the Baltic cod Gadus morhua Linnaeus, 1758 and the Baltic sprat Sprattus sprattus (Linnaeus, 1758) in the Gdansk Deep of the Baltic Sea was estimated from data for March–August 2015–2022. The estimates were compared with historical data for 1968–1977. In the modern period, the average sprat egg abundance increased one and a half times from 134.7 to 192.6 eggs/m², and the spawning peak shifted to earlier dates, from May–July 1968–1977 to April–June 2015–2022. The average cod egg abundance decreased by half from 16.3 to 8.0 eggs/m², and the spawning shifted a month later, from May–June to June–July, which is apparently related to climate change.

For the flora of the Cape Martyan territorial aquatic reserve and the hydrobotanical region of the Black Sea Southern Coast of Crimea, the species Dasya hutchinsiae Harvey has been indicated for the first time. Its diagnostic features have been clarified and illustrated. It has been shown that four localities of D. hutchinsiae are currently known in four hydrobotanical regions in the Northern Black Sea region, including three directly off the coast of Crimea. The rarity of the species may be due to its belonging to the category of pulsating elements of the regional flora.