The intertidal zone of Russky Island (Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan) is
described, and quantitative characteristics of 23 benthic communities, represented by
50 macrophytic and 181 animal species, are given. It is shown that the proportion of
pseudomeiobenthos in meiobenthos is greater than that of eumeiobenthos not only
with reference to biomass, but also to population density. When comparing species
richness of macrobenthos of the intertidal zone of Russky Island with that of the
northern part of Amursky Bay (Peter the Great Bay) adjacent to the mouth of the
Razdolnaya River, on the one hand, and with that of the islands of the Far Eastern
Marine Biosphere Reserve, situated in the open part of Peter the Great Bay, on the
other hand, a biodiversity gradient was revealed, that is a regular increase of macrobenthic
species number beginning from the freshened areas of the bay and up to the
open sea shores.