Fishes of lakes of the western slopes of the Pre-Polar and Polar Urals

The results of the first inventory conducted in 1994-2016 of the compositions of the ichthyofaunas of 148 Pre-Polar and Polar Ural mountain lakes located in the catchment areas of the Shchugor, Torgovaya, Maly Patok, Bolshoi Patok, Voi- vozh-Synya, Vangyr, Kosju, Kozhim, Lemva, Bolshaya Usa, Malaya Usa and the Kara rivers are presented. In total, 16 fish species have been identified in the regional lakes under study belonging to ten families: salmonids- Salmonidae (Arctic char Salvelinus alpinus Linnaeus); whitefish - Coregonidae (Siberian whitefish - pydschjan Coregonus lavaretus pidschian Gmelin, broad whitefish Coregonus nasus Pallas, peled Coregonus peled Gmelin); grayling - Thymallidae (Arctic grayling Thymallus arcticus Pallas, European grayling Thymallus thy- mallus Linnaeus); pickerel - Esocidae (northern pike Esoxlucius Linnaeus, carp- Cyprinidae (lake minnow Phoxinus perenurus Pallas, common minnow Phox- inus phoxinus Linnaeus, roach Rutilus rutilus Linnaeus); loaches - Balitoridae (bearded stone loach Barbatula barbatula Linna-eus); burbots - Lotidae (fresh- water cod Lota lota Linnaeus); sharplings - Gasterosteidae (nine-spined stickle- back Pungitius pungitius Linnaeus), perches - Percidae (pope Gymnocephalus cernuus Linnaeus, river perch Perca fluviatilis Linnaeus); and biggy-heads - Cottidae (freshwater sculpin Cottus gobio Linnaeus).Estimated glacial relicts: isolated localities of peled in Lake Plaunty (the Malaya Usa basin), the lake-river system of the Bolshaya Usa headwaters, including a number of lakes in the Vangyr and Bolshoi Patok river basins -have been iden- tified. Quite a number of lakes inhabited by resident Arctic char, located in the Kara, Malaya Usa, Kozhim, Kosju, Vangyr and Voivozh-Synya river basins, have been discovered. It is found that resident Arctic char, lake-resident peled and Arctic grayling inhabiting mountain lakes and some rivers of the Pre-Polar and Polar Urals are characterized by a breaking-up multifocal area and inhabit a whole range of lakes and water streams in the national park.The ichthyofaunas of a number of mountain and piedmont lakes in the Kosju, Voivozh-Synya and Bolshoi Patok river basins are characterized by the presence of roach. Under further global warming, it is possible to forecast mass develop- ment of cyprinid and percoid fishes, and this has already started in many water bodies and river systems of Western Europe and Russia as a result of water enrichment. In the Pechora River basin, there are centers of distribution of ner-fling, roach, perch and pope even in remote mountainous areas of the Pre-Polar and Polar Urals.As a result of many year ichthyofauna research of mountain and piedmont lakes of the western slopes of the Pre-Polar and Polar Urals, the following facts have been demonstrated: multiplicity of the isolates of estimated post-glacial relicts of the western slopes of the Pre-Polar and Polar Urals (local aggregations of peled in the Malaya Usa, Bolshaya Usa, Vangyr and Bolshoi Patok river basins and resident Arctic char in the Malaya Usa, Kozhim, Kosju, Vangyr and Voi- vozh-Synya river basins); geographical multidirectionality of the Siberian fauna penetration routes (Arctic grayling of the Kara, Lemva, Kozhim, Bolshoi Patok and Torgovaya river basins) into water bodies of the western slopes of the Urals; mosaic structure of the post-glacial distribution of flat boreal species (roach in mountain lakes in the Kosju, Bolshoi Patok and Torgovaya river basins; and lake minnow in the Kosju, Voivozh-Synya and Shchugor river basins).