A SCENARIO OF THE LATE-PLEISTOCENE-HOLOCENE CHANGES IN THE DISTRIBUTIONAL RANGE OF ANTARCTIC KRILL (EUPHAUSIA-SUPERBA)

Oceanographic evidence along with the data on Euphausia superba distri bution indicate that the reproductive range of this species is related to the southernmost core of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), the Weddell Gyre, the Ross Gyre, and the systems of mesoscale eddies i n the Bellingshausen Sea, in the Prydz Bay area, and the D'Urville Sea . During the Last Glaciation Maximum, at ca. 18 ka BP, both the Weddel l and the Ross Gyres as well as near-coastal circulations probably los t their importance in the maintenance of Antarctic krill populations d ue to cooling of the water column and development of multi-year sea ic e. Within the ACC at that time, some smaller-scale circulations relate d to islands and seamounts could have played a major role in controlli ng krill distribution. If, nevertheless, refugia for self-maintained k rill populations remained in the near-coastal zone, particularly in th e eastern Indian sector, geographical isolation might have caused dive rgence between the two species of the gregarine Cephaloidophora common ly infesting krill at present.