NEW DATA ON THE FAUNA OF BENTHIC INFUSORI ANS (CILIATA, PROTOZOA) OF THE BARENTS-SEA

The benthic infusorians of tile western coast of Novaya Zemlya (the Ba rents Sea) were studied. 75 taxa were recorded. 59 of them are identif ied at the species level. 30 of these species are new for the Barents Sea, most of them are widespread forms or cosmopolites. The new specie s list of Barents Sea infusorians includes 170 taxa. The littoral zone is impoverished in species as compared to the sublittoral one, some t ypically interstitial taxa (as Karyorelictida) occur only in sublittor al samples, Some brackish and freshwater infusorians are found only in the littoral zone. The total abundance of infusorians in the upper la yers of littoral sediments is low, the highest abundance was noted in the deeper layers (4 to 12 cm). The similar peculiarities were describ ed earlier for the littoral and sublittoral macrobenthos of Novaya Zem lya and are conditioned by rigorous climate of the region.