The Indo-Pacific region (also the Indo- West Pacific region , or the Indo-West Pacific region ) is the most extensive zoogeographic region of the World Ocean, covering the bottom fauna of the continental shelf and the coasts of the islands of the tropical zone of the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean .
Content
Geography
Located in a tropical region . It covers the region from the eastern coast of Africa and the Red Sea to Micronesia , Melanesia , Polynesia and Indonesia , in the north to the shores of Korea, Japan and the Hawaiian Islands , and in the south to the southern tip of Africa and the western coast of Australia (to Sydney on its eastern coast) . A very rugged coastline is characteristic - there are many bays, bays, straits, islands and archipelagoes.
Includes the waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans between 40 ° C. w. and 40 ° s . w. , off the west coast of South America, its border is sharply shifted to the north under the influence of the cold Peruvian current . The term is used in biogeography , ocean biology and ichthyology , since the seas of this region, from Madagascar to Japan , are the habitat of many animal species.
Climatic conditions
Water temperature - 27-28 ° C, in the north not lower than 24 ° C, reaches constant values throughout the year. The 12-hour rhythm of the change of day and night is characteristic. There are only two seasons in a year - winter dry and summer rainy, associated with a change in direction of the monsoon .
Fauna
Favorable temperature conditions due to the large area of shallow water and the stability of the environment over many geological periods led to the development of an exceptionally rich fauna. It is characterized by a rich and diverse fauna, which cannot be compared with other areas of the World Ocean in terms of species richness and the presence of endemic representatives. Some representatives of the fauna:
- Mammals - dugong ;
- Seabirds - wandering albatross ;
- The fish fauna is represented by numerous and diverse families and genera, for example, the isoaceae , bristle-toothed , lactar ( Lactariidae ), anchovy (including lycrissa Lycothrissa crocodilus ), and body ( Ostraciontidae ) families . There are living fossils - coelacanth . Fish - sailboat , swordfish , bodyfish , parrot fish , surgical .
- The bulk of species of reef-forming corals of the Indo-Pacific region are representatives of the genus Acropora , there are about 50 species here.
- Invertebrates are represented by a wide variety of corals that form coral reefs . Sponges , various worms ( polychaetes , sipunculides), barnacle crustaceans , crabs (including Pachygrapsus , flat crabs from the genus Percnon ), horseshoe crabs , etc. are widely distributed. Among the crustaceans, the Japanese spider crab ( Macrocheira kaempferi ) found in the Pacific in that it, with dimensions up to three meters, is the largest of the known crustaceans and generally arthropods.
- The fauna of various mollusks is widely represented - bivalves , numerous gastropods ( tsipreya , miter , cones , lambis , olives, harp ), cephalopods
Local differences in the fauna of the Indo-Pacific region made it possible to distinguish the Indian-West Pacific, East Pacific, West Atlantic and East Atlantic subregions [1] .
Notes
- ↑ Abdurakhmanov, 2001 .
Literature
- Indo-West Pacific Region // Willow - Italics. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1972. - S. 234-235. - (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vols.] / Ch. Ed. A. M. Prokhorov ; 1969-1978, vol. 10).
- Abdurakhmanov G. M. Tropical region: Indo-Pacific region // Fundamentals of Zoology and Zoogeography: Textbook. for students of higher education. ped textbook. institutions studying in the specialty "Biology", "Geography", "Pedagogy and methodology beginning. education ” / G. M. Abdurakhmanov, I. K. Lopatin , Sh. I. Ismailov . - M .: Academy, 2001 .-- 496 p. - ISBN 5-7695-0625-3 .
- Kafanov A.I., Kudryashov V.A. Marine biogeography. - M., 2000.