The Sea of Azov is a shelf semi-enclosed body of water, and it belongs to the Mediterranean system. In general, this natural body of water is a mixing zone of the Black Sea and river waters, therefore, some researchers consider it as a bay (shallow) of the Black Sea or a spacious, extensive river estuary.
From this article you can find out what the area is Sea of Azov, about its location, the origin of the name and much more. etc.
Sea of Azov: general information
This body of water represents the northeastern basin of the Black Sea. Connects them together
According to its morphological characteristics, Azov belongs to the flat type and is a shallow water body with not very high bank slopes.
There is a rather small area and depth of the Azov Sea (the latter is no more than 14 meters, and its average depth is only about 8 meters). Moreover, more than 1/2 of the territory has a depth of up to 5 meters. And this is the main feature.
Without taking into account Sivash, the Sea of Azov has an elliptical shape extended to the southwest from the northeast. It is the smallest natural body of water in the World Ocean.
Two great rivers flow into it - the Kuban and the Don - and many (more than 20) smaller ones, which mostly flow from its northern bank.
Parameters of the Sea of Azov: area
The Azov Sea basin has an area of about 570 thousand square meters. km. Its longest length is 343 km, and its widest part is 231 km. 2686 kilometers - the length of the entire coastline.
Area of the Sea of Azov in sq. km. is about 37,600 (this does not include the area of islands and spits, which occupy 107.9 sq. km). The average volume of all water is 256 km 3 . As noted above, approximately 43% of the territory is located in areas of depths from 5 to 10 meters.
origin of name
The sea received its modern, relatively new name several centuries ago from the name Turkish city Azov. The latter, in turn, comes from the name of the local feudal lord (Azak or Azum).
But even earlier, the ancient Greeks called it “Meotis limne”, which means “lake of the Meotians” (the peoples who lived on the shores). The Romans called it ironically - “Palus Meotis”, which means “swamp of the Meotians”. And this is not surprising for the Sea of Azov. The area, and especially its depth, is not very large.
The Arabs called it “Baral-Azov” and “Nitschlah”, and the Turks called it “Bahr-Assak” (Dark Blue Sea) and “Baryal-Assak”. There were many more names in ancient times, it’s impossible to count them all.
Azov became famous in Rus' in the 1st century AD. e., and the name was given to him - the Blue Sea. After it was formed it was called Russian. Then the sea was renamed many times (Mayutis, Salakar, Samakush, etc.). In the 13th century the sea was established with the name Saksi Sea. The Tatar-Mongol conquerors gave it the name “Chabak-dengiz” (bream or chabach) and “Balyk-dengiz” (translated as “fish sea”). As a result of the transformation of the last name (chabak - dzybakh - zabak - azak - azov) the current name (dubious version) arose. All the speculations about the origin cannot be described here.
Types of animals, volumes of water, area: comparisons of the Sea of Azov with other seas
The area is almost 2 times larger than Azov, and Chernoe is almost 11 times larger, and, accordingly, in terms of water volume it is 1678 times larger.
And yet, this area could easily accommodate two European states, for example Luxembourg and Belgium.
It is also interesting to compare the number of species of Mediterranean plants and animals in different seas, looking from west to east. In the Mediterranean there are more than 6,000 species of various organisms, in the Black Sea - 1500, in the Azov Sea - about 200, in the Caspian Sea - about 28, and in the Aral Sea there are only 2 species of organisms. This explains the fact that all of them, sometime in the distant past, gradually separated from the Mediterranean Sea.
The water expanses of the Sea of Azov and the area of the coastline accommodate a huge number of different species of animals.
There is a lot of diverse waterfowl on the banks: ducks, geese, steppe waders, geese, lapwings, mute swans, black-headed gulls and many others. etc. In the sea and at the mouths of rivers flowing into it, as well as on estuaries, a total of 114 species (together with subspecies) of fish live. This body of water is also called the Sea of Shellfish.
And in terms of biological productivity it ranks first in the world.
Relief underwater
The relief of the sea bottom is simple. The depths here generally increase gradually as you move away from the coast, and, naturally, the deepest places are in the very center. The bottom of Azov is almost flat.
The entire territory of the Sea of Azov arose thanks to large bays. There are no large islands on it. There are small shallows (Turtle Island, Biryuchiy Island, etc.).
Climate
The area of almost the entire surface of the water quickly warms up already in April-May. From June to September average temperature The water temperature can be more than 20°C, and in July-August it reaches 30°C. And in Sivash (for comparison) the water warms up to 42 degrees.
The swimming season lasts 124 days. During this favorable period, there are only a few days where the water and air temperatures are relatively low or very high.
Due to the small size of the Sea of Azov (area, depth, volume), its influence on the climate of the land surrounding it is rather weak and barely noticeable only in a narrow strip (coastal).
The water here heats up quickly in summer and cools in the same way in winter. The sea freezes completely only in the harshest winters. Moreover, throughout the winter, ice forms and thaws several times, since thaws often occur in these places.
In conclusion, some interesting facts
There are some very interesting and curious facts from history.
1. The sea was part of a huge ocean for many millions of years, called Tethys by geologists. Its endless expanse stretched from Central America through Atlantic Ocean, part of Europe, the Black, Mediterranean, Caspian and Aral Seas and further east through India to the Pacific Ocean.
2. The Russian prince Gleb in 1068 measured the distance from Kerch to Taman along the ice. The inscription on indicates that the distance from Korchev to Tmutarakan ( ancient name Kerch and Taman, respectively) was approximately 20 km. It turns out that over 939 years this distance has increased by 3 km.
3. Sea water contains little salt (another feature). Because of this, water freezes quite easily. Therefore, the sea is unnavigable from the end of the year (December) until mid-April.
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Etymology
In antiquity, the Sea of Azov was called Lake Meotia by the Greeks (ancient Greek. Μαιῶτις ((#if: |, (((2))) ))((#if:| - (((3)))))((#if: |, (((2))) ))(( #if:| - (((3)))))), among the Romans Palus Maeotis (“Meotian swamp”), among the Scythians Kargaluk, among the Meotians Temerinda (which means “mother of the sea”) Sergeev I. V. The Mystery of Place Names. - Moscow: Children's literature, 1963. - 237 p., among the Arabs - Bahr al-Azuf, among the Turks - Bahr el-Assak or Bahr-y Assak (Dark Blue Sea; modern Tur. Azak Denizi) and also - Balysira (Balisira), among the Genoese and Venetians - Mare delle Zabacche .
The sea was renamed many times (Samakush, Salakar, Mayutis, etc.). At the beginning of the 13th century. The name Saksi Sea is approved. The Tatar-Mongol conquerors added to the collection of names of Azov: Balyk-dengiz (fish sea) and Chabak-dengiz (or Chebak, i.e., Sudak, hazel sea). According to other sources, azak is a Turkic adjective meaning low, low-lying; according to other sources, azak (Turkic mouth of the river), which was transformed into Azau, and then into Russian Azov. In the interval of the above names, the sea also received the following: Bar-el-Azov (Dark Blue River); Frankish Sea(the Franks meant the Genoese and Venetians); Surozhskoe (Sudakskoe)((#if:| ((#ifeq:((#invoke:String|sub||-1))| ||((#ifeq:((#invoke:String|sub||-6|-2))| ||(( #ifeq:((#invoke:String|sub||-6|-2))|/span|Template:±.|Template:±. ))))))))((#if: |((#if: |[(((link part))) (((part)))]| (((part))))) // ))((#if: |[[:s:(((Wikisource)))|Great Soviet Encyclopedia, volume 25]]|((#if: |Great Soviet Encyclopedia, volume 25 |((#if:|[(((link))) Great Soviet Encyclopedia, volume 25]|Great Soviet Encyclopedia, volume 25))))))((#if:| = (((original))) ))((#if:| / .|((#if: ||.))))((#if:Great Soviet Encyclopedia, volume 25|((#if:| ((#if:| = (((original2))) ))((#if:| / (( (responsible2))).|((#if:||.)))))))((#if:Third edition. In 30 volumes.| - Third edition. In 30 volumes..))((# switch:((#if:Moscow|m))((#if:Soviet Encyclopedia|i))((#if:1969–1978|g))
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}}); Kaffa Sea(Kaffa - Italian colony on site modern city Feodosia in Crimea); Cimmerian Sea(from the Cimmerians); Akdeniz(Turkish meaning White Sea). It is most certain that modern name sea comes from the city of Azov.
According to the etymology of the word “Azov”, there are a number of hypotheses: after the name of the Polovtsian prince Azup (Azuf), who took a fortress on the site of the modern city in the city; by the name of the Osov tribe (Assy), which in turn supposedly came from Avestan, meaning “fast”; The name is compared with the Turkic word azan - “lower”, and the Circassian uzev - “neck”. The Turkic name of the city of Azov is Auzak. But back in the 1st century. n. e. Pliny, listing the Scythian tribes in his writings, mentions the Asoki tribe, similar to the word Azov. It is generally accepted that the modern name of the Sea of Azov came into Russian toponymy at the beginning of the 17th century, thanks to the chronicle of Pimen. Moreover, at first it was assigned only to part of it (the Taganrog Bay, which before the appearance of the city of Taganrog was called the Don Estuary). Only in the second half of the 18th century the name “Sea of Azov” was assigned to the entire body of water. The sea gave its name to the villages of Azovskaya and Priazovskaya, and to the city of Novoazovsk, the village of Priazovskoye and other settlements.
History of the study According to the Russian prince, it belongs to the flat seas and is a shallow body of water with low coastal slopes (Strakhov, 1963). In terms of distance from the ocean, the Sea of Azov is the most continental sea on the planet.
In winter, partial or partial
A very, very long time ago there existed a vast oceanic basin - the Paratethys. The extremely large, latitudinally elongated reservoir consisted of Alpine, Carpathian-Balkan, Crimean-Caucasian-Aral parts. Complex and difficult to understand geological processes led to sharp fluctuations in sea level, advances on land and retreats - transgressions and regressions.
In the process of development of Paratethys, its eastern Crimean-Caucasian-Aral honor was separated from the reservoirs lying much to the west. Sediments of this basin - the eastern branch of the Paratethys - are recorded over large areas of the southern CIS and, in particular, in the southern part of Ukraine. By the beginning of the last (Quaternary) period of the Earth’s development (it began a million years ago and continues to this day), the sea retreated from the vast territories of modern land, the bowl of the Black Sea took shape, the relics of Paratethys broke up into a number of isolated reservoirs, and on the site of the modern Sea of Azov a reservoir was formed, which was its predecessor.
Specialists have long been interested in the geological history of the Azov-Black Sea basin and the entire Ponto-Caspian Sea in Quaternary times. Many famous scientists - N. I. Andrusov, A. D. Arkhangelsky, P. V. Fedorov, G. I. Popov, G. I. Goretsky, G. I. Molyavko, L. A. Nevesskaya, V. N. Shelkoplyas and others worked to recreate it. In the second half of the twentieth century, P. V. Fedorov paid especially much attention to this issue. Basically, according to his data, we present the history of the Sea of Azov. Studies of the Kerch Strait, carried out by the Institute of Geological Sciences of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, made it possible to supplement a number of existing ideas, because the strait was that unique link connecting both the Azov and Black Sea, which allows you to clearly record the development of both the first and the second.
By the beginning of the Quaternary period in the south of the CIS, in the Ponto-Caspian region, two large water basins survived - the Paleo-Caspian and Paleo-Azov-Black Sea, at times connected to each other along a strait located in the modern valley of the Manych River.
Scientists' opinions about the paleogeographical situation at the beginning of the Quaternary period are contradictory. Many experts believe that during this period - in the Chaudin age - the sea retreated from the territory of Azov. Others believe that the regression preceded the Chaudinian age, and it was then that a small Chaudinian transgression took place, and in place of the Sea of Azov there was a body of water smaller than the modern Sea of Azov. At the beginning of the century it was freshwater, then the salinity increased.
There are facts indicating the existence of the Manych Strait, which connected the Chaudin (Azov-Black Sea) and Baku (as the Caspian Sea of this time period is usually called) reservoirs. The level of the Baku reservoir was much higher than the level of the Chaudin Sea, as can be judged by the preserved coastal terraces. Therefore, a powerful stream flowed from the Caspian Sea, and through the Manych Strait, entering the Sea of Azov, penetrated through the Kerch Strait into the Black Sea, and from here into the Mediterranean. Along with the Caspian water, the Baku (Caspian) fauna ended up in the Chaudin basin.
The Chaudin Age lasted about 250 thousand years. In the post-Chaudin time (which is almost 400 thousand years), the sea retreated within the boundaries of the modern Sea of Azov, then a new large transgression of the Ponto-Caspian Sea took place. This next advance of the sea occurs already in the next - the ancient euxinian age of the Quaternary period, which lasted approximately 100 thousand years.
The level of the ancient euxinian sea did not remain consistently constant, changing several times due to frequent regressions and transgressions. At the end of the century, the water area of the ancient Euxine Sea in the Azov part exceeded its modern contours. The huge influx of both Caspian (through the Manych Strait) and river waters led to the erosion of the coastal zone and the destruction of the previously deposited Chauda deposits. The powerful flow of Azov waters into the Black Sea caused the erosion of Chaudin deposits along the shores of the Kerch Strait. Only a small remnant of them remained on the banks.
- Postage stamps catalog of stamps of the USSR postage stamps Collector's Shop. -
The fauna of mollusks in the Azov part of the ancient Euxine Sea is interesting. Here there are brackish water forms, there are newcomers from the Caspian Sea, and there are rare Mediterranean forms. However, the general desalination of the Azov and Black Seas obviously prevented the widespread penetration of Mediterranean mollusks characteristic of seas of normal salinity.
What happened after the ancient euxinian transgression is not yet entirely clear to geologists. Many admit the existence of the Uzunlar age and the Uzunlar transgression as a subsequent stage. Others suggest that after a partial regression, the ancient euxinian reservoir was replaced by the Karangatian one. In the Karangat age, the Sea of Azov again moved to the shores and occupied a water area somewhat larger than the modern one.
The hot climate, the Mediterranean fauna - everything testified to the low water content of the rivers flowing here, the high salinity of the waters - up to 30 ppm (salinity of sea water is determined in ppm - the number of grams of salts in 1000 grams of sea water, author's note) in the southern part - and also about the lack of communication between the Caspian Sea and Azov. The level of the Karangat Sea exceeded the current level. The Karangat Age lasted approximately 50 thousand years.
At its end, when the sea began to retreat, the discharge of water along the Manych Strait resumed. Caspian waters. Then it left the Azov territory, and a swampy plain appeared in place of the water area. Full-flowing rivers flowed among the swamps, generously fed by melted glacial waters - Paleo-Don, Paleo-Kalmius, Paleo-Berda, Paleo-Korsak, Paleo-Molochnaya and others. Rivers carried out huge masses of solid waste, most often sand. In place of the ancient channels, thick sandy bodies remained, recorded in silty sediments and loess strata.
These so-called alluvial (river) deposits make it possible to trace the ancient river network at the bottom of the Sea of Azov. In the post-Karangat period, not only did the Azov water area dry up, but the level of the Black Sea also dropped - by about 70, and possibly more, meters. The latter lost contact with the Mediterranean Sea and ceased to be a flowing water. The Bosporus and Dardanelles dried up, the Kerch Strait turned into a generalized estuary zone of the Paleo-Don and other Azov rivers. More and more ancient deposits - Chaudinsky, ancient Euxinian, Karangatian - were once again subjected to powerful erosion, surviving only in the form of small remnants. In the Kerch Strait, impressive masses of quartz alluvial sands formed, and a huge paleo-delta protruding into the Black Sea arose.
Approximately 25 thousand years have passed since the last stage of development of the Azov-Black Sea basin began. As a result of the melting of glaciers, impressive masses of fresh water began to flow into the basins of the Azov and other seas. Sea levels rose and the Neo-Euxinian transgression began. First along river valleys, and then everywhere, the sea launched an attack on land. The Azov region has again turned into a seabed. The entire sea basin occupied a slightly smaller area than the modern sea. The connection between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean was restored, and Black Sea waters were again discharged into the latter. At times, communication between the Caspian Sea and Azov was established through the Manych Strait, especially in those periods when the level of the Sea of Azov exceeded the current one. The Manych Strait disappeared several thousand years ago. At the same time, the Sea of Azov entered its modern shores, and modern climatic conditions were established.
The question often arises about the origin of the western bay of the Azov Sea - Sivash. It was first mentioned by the Roman historian Strabo (1st century BC): “Here is an isthmus 40 stadia wide (1st stadia - 117 meters, author’s note), separating the so-called Rotten Lake from the sea and forming a peninsula called Tauride and Scythian. Some, however, say that the width of the isthmus is 360 stadia. The rotten lake is said to be even four thousand stadia wide and forms the western part of Maeotis, with which it is connected by a wide mouth. It is very marshy and barely navigable for sewn boats ", since the winds easily open the shoals and then fill them again with water, so that these swamps are impassable for larger ships. There are three islands in this bay, and along the coast there are shoals and a few underwater rocks."
According to lithologists M.F. Stashchuk and V.A. Suprychev, in their modern form Sivash arose quite recently, around 1100-1200. Previously, these were underwater bars and islands mentioned by Strabo. Deposit thickness Arabat Spit is small and confirms the conclusion about its recent genesis. It must be said that the geological history of the Sea of Azov is still largely unknown, and studies of the water area will add to knowledge in this area.
The Azov Sea has developed a rather complex bed, filled with a fairly thick, especially in the southern part, cover of Quaternary sediments. It seems to unite the diverse and different-aged geological structures of the foundation from more ancient deposits. In the north, Quaternary sediments of the Azov Sea cover: crystalline rocks of the Azov crystalline massif; northern zone of the Black Sea basin; system of Black Sea troughs (North Crimean, North Azov, Yeisk); Middle Azov uplift (shaft); Indolo-Kuban trough. Modern sedimentation processes are largely inherited from previous geological eras.
Well-known researchers of the Sea of Azov, Yu. P. Khrustalev and F. A. Shcherbakov, calculated: annually 52.38 million tons of sedimentary material precipitate in the Sea of Azov, including the terrigenous (clastic) part - 32.53 million tons (62 .1%) and biogenic products - 19.85 million tons (37.9%). Terrigenous material is carried out by rivers, mainly the Don and Kuban, and appears due to the coastal zone and seabed, and to a lesser extent due to aeolian input. As a result, a very complex arrangement of bottom sediments is evident.
The local geological processes are much more accessible to study than in other seas. That is why studies of the Sea of Azov are the development of a unique model applicable to the study of deeper and less favorable seas for this purpose.
The seas, like people, are absolutely different from each other. They are unique not only in their appearance, size, depth, but also in the contours of the shore lines, the composition of the animal and flora and even by the color of the water and character.
The most unique are the historical fates of the seas, inextricably linked with the history of the peoples who lived on their shores and sailed on boats and ships on their waters. Sea of Azov also has its own, unique features and characteristics. First of all, the size of this smallest sea is unique. It is one and a half times smaller than the Aral Sea, ten times smaller than the Caspian Sea, and eleven times smaller than the Black Sea...
But in history the small sea occupies a fairly prominent place. It received its current name around the middle of the 13th century - from the name of the ancient shopping center Azak, who grew up on the site of ancient Tanais, destroyed by the Golden Horde. But, since the Sea of Azov was located at the intersection of the historical paths of peoples, it, like, perhaps, no other body of water globe, has changed many names in the past. The ancient Greeks called it Meotida, which means “nurse”, the Romans called it Palus Meotis (“Meotian swamp”) for its shallow waters, the Scythians called it Kargulak (“rich in fish”), the Meotians called it Timirinda (“mother of the sea”). The Genoese and Venetians called it. Mare Fane, Arabs - Bahr el-Azov, Slavs - Sourozh or Blue...
And in 1696, when the Russian armies liberated the Azov region from the Turkish aggressors and reached the Azov shores, the smallest sea became the cradle of the first naval fleet in Russian history.
The Azov Sea and its neighboring seas acquired their current shape only during the Tertiary period, that is, about a million years ago, when man first appeared on earth. Before that, it was part of a huge ancient proto-ocean, called Tethys by geologists. But then in the ocean as a result of geological changes appeared large islands- modern mountain ranges Carpathians, Crimea, Caucasus, Asia Minor. They connected with each other, forming separate closed pools. One of these basins included the Aral, Caspian, and Azov seas and occupied southern part Ukraine.
Mountain-building changes continued on its shores and islands, as a result of which this region of the globe acquired its current shape: the bottom of the Sea of Azov rose and froze, determining its shallowness and associated natural features, without which the Sea of Azov would simply turn into big bay Black Sea. The maximum depth of the sea does not exceed 14 meters, the volume is only 320 cubic kilometers, and the area is 37,800 square kilometers. The sea has the greatest extent along its northern shores: the distance from the mouth of the Don to the Arabat Spit is about 400 kilometers. The greatest width is 200 kilometers.
In addition, the Sea of Azov, unlike closed seas such as the Aral and Caspian, is connected through the Kerch Strait and the Black Sea to the world ocean. This means that the level of the Azov waters is relatively constant, but their salinity is significantly lower than in the ocean and the Black Sea. This is again explained by the shallowness of the sea: it is desalinated by the Don and Kuban, as well as small rivers of the Northern Azov region, carrying their nutrient-rich waters into the sea.
The geographical location and shallow water of the Azov Sea contribute to good warming of its water, so that its average annual temperature is 11.5 degrees: in winter it drops sharply below zero, and in summer the air temperature levels out to 28 degrees. In the coastal zone near Primorsko-Akhtarsk and Taganrog, there were cases when the water warmed up to 32 degrees! The climate of the Azov Sea basin is continental, the average annual precipitation is low - 300-500 millimeters. And only a small sea - a sensitive natural air conditioner - softens the climate of the sultry Tauride steppes and turns into resort area all the coast.
In addition, the Sea of Azov is a natural “museum” of coastal forms. Along the entire coastline you will see chains of sandbanks and small islands. Among the islands, the largest are Biryuchiy, Peschanye and Turtle. By the way, the latter is an artificial outpost at the entrance to the Taganrog port, and it was built by Russian soldiers at the behest of Peter I, the founder of Taganrog.
But the main and most scientifically interesting feature of the coast of the Azov Sea is its sandbanks, which extend tens of kilometers into the open sea in narrow strips of sand. The largest of them are located on the northern shore. These are the Beglitskaya spit, the length of which is 3 kilometers, Krivaya - 10 kilometers, Belosarayskaya - 14 kilometers, Berdyansk - 23 kilometers, Obitochnaya - 30 kilometers and Fedotova - 45 kilometers.
The Sea of Azov is an inland sea in eastern Europe. This is the shallowest sea in the world, its depth does not exceed 13.5 meters. According to its morphological characteristics, it belongs to the flat seas and is a shallow body of water with low coastal slopes. The seashores are mostly flat and sandy, only on south coast There are hills of volcanic origin, which in some places turn into steep advanced mountains. In terms of distance from the ocean, the Sea of Azov is the continental sea of the planet. Coastline cut by bays and spits, the territory of which is a protected or resort and recreational area. The shores of the Sea of Azov are low-lying, composed of sand and shell deposits. The large rivers Don, Kuban and numerous small rivers Mius, Berda and others flow into the Sea of Azov.
SalinityThe salinity level of the Azov Sea is formed primarily under the influence of the abundant influx of river water (up to 12% of the water volume) and difficult water exchange with the Black Sea. The water contains very little salt in the northern part of the Azov Sea. For this reason, the sea freezes easily. In winter, partial or complete freezing is possible, with ice being carried into the Black Sea through the Kerch Strait.
The underwater relief of the sea is relatively simple. As you move away from the coast, the depths slowly and smoothly increase, reaching 13 m in the central part of the sea. The main area of the bottom is characterized by depths of 5-13 m. The area of greatest depths is in the center of the sea. The location of the isobaths, close to symmetrical, is disrupted by their slight elongation in the northeast towards the Taganrog Bay. The 5 m isobath is located approximately 2 km from the coast, moving away from it near the Taganrog Bay and in the bay itself near the mouth of the Don. In the Taganrog Bay, the depths increase from the mouth of the Don (2-3 m) towards the open part of the sea, reaching 8-9 m at the border of the bay with the sea. In the topography of the bottom of the Sea of Azov, systems of underwater hills are noted, stretched along the eastern (Zhelezinskaya Bank) and western (Morskaya and Arabatskaya banks) coasts, the depths above which decrease from 8-9 to 3-5 m. For the underwater coastal slope north coast characterized by wide shallow waters (20-30 km) with depths of 6-7 m, for south coast- steep underwater slope to depths of 11-13 m.
Sea currents are dependent on the very strong north-eastern and south-western winds blowing here and therefore change direction very often. The main current is a circular current along the shores of the Sea of Azov in a counterclockwise direction.
FaunaThe ichthyofauna of the Azov Sea currently includes 103 species and subspecies of fish belonging to 76 genera, and is represented by anadromous, semi-anadromous, marine and freshwater species.
Migratory fish species feed in the sea until sexual maturity, and enter the river only to spawn. The breeding period in rivers and or on borrowed land usually does not exceed 1-2 months. Among the Azov migratory fish there are the most valuable commercial species, such as beluga, sturgeon, stellate sturgeon, herring, vimba and shemaya.
Semi-anadromous species come from the sea to rivers to reproduce. However, they can stay in rivers for a longer time than migratory ones (up to a year). As for the juveniles, they migrate from spawning grounds very slowly and often remain in the river for the winter. Semi-anadromous fish include common species such as pike perch, bream, ram, sabrefish and some others.
Marine species breed and feed in salty waters. Among them, species that permanently live in the Sea of Azov stand out. These are pilengas, flounder, glossa, sprat, perkarina, three-spined gnat, needle fish and all types of gobies. And finally, there is a large group of marine fish that enters the Sea of Azov from the Black Sea, including those that carry out regular migrations. These include: Azov anchovy, Black Sea anchovy, Black Sea herring, red mullet, singil, sharpnose, mullet, Black Sea Kalkan, horse mackerel, mackerel, etc.
Freshwater species usually live permanently in one area of a body of water and do not make large migrations. These species usually inhabit desalinated sea areas. Here you can find fish such as sterlet, silver carp, pike, ide, bleak, etc.
The Sea of Azov has no equal in the world in terms of the number of plant and animal organisms. The Azov Sea is 6.5 times more productive than the Caspian Sea, 40 times more productive than the Black Sea, and 160 times more productive than the Sea of Azov. Mediterranean Sea. But in size it is 10 times smaller than Black.
MineralsGeologists unanimously agree that the subsoil of the Azov Sea is very rich. Zircon, rutile, and ilmenite were discovered here. Under the seabed there are minerals containing a good half of the periodic table. In the southeastern part of the sea there are underwater mud volcanoes. Industrial reserves of natural gas have been found in the depths of the Azov Sea.
