Russian scientists, who conducted an expedition to explore the inaccessible lakes of Chukotka, Koryakia and the north of Kamchatka, discovered several dozen species of fish previously unknown to science, which appeared about 200 thousand years ago. This was announced on Wednesday by Grigory Markevich, a senior researcher at the Kronotsky State Reserve and a member of the expedition, giving a lecture at the St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Geographical Society (RGO).
"The first find was a relic whitefish (a genus of fish of the salmon family - approx. TASS), previously unknown to science. The fish was found in reservoirs that" drain "into the Arctic. We believe that this species settled before the beginning of the last ice age offensive, the reservoir did not completely freeze, so the species remained there for about 200 thousand years in such a form adapted to lake life, "Markevich said, adding that in total, as a result of the expedition, more than a dozen new species of fish were found, which also appeared about 200 thousand. years ago.
According to him, within the framework of the expedition, for the first time, dozens of lakes were examined on an area of about 40 thousand square meters. km, which covered Chukotka, Koryakia and the northern part of Kamchatka. The length of the route was about 8 thousand km, aviation was used in the expedition. The scientist added that it was precisely the difficult transport conditions that caused the fact that the reservoirs in this area were not previously explored.
"The results of the work are of great importance for understanding the origin of various fish species. Now we are analyzing genetic samples of unknown species. These data will allow us to understand the mechanisms of evolution of living organizations in Arctic conditions," Markevich said.
The scientist added that the expedition was funded by the Presidential Grants Fund, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) and the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), without specifying the amount of funds invested.