Vol. 77 2025

ARTICLES

Destruction of the Kakhovka Dam (Ukraine) and Its Impact on Mediterranean Mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) Populations in the Gulf of Odesa

Svitlana Stadnichenko1*, Olena Bondarenko1, Yuriy Kvach1,2

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*1Institute of Marine Biology, National Academy of Science of Ukraine, Italiiska St., 37, 65048 Odesa, Ukraine; svestad63@gmail.com
2Institute of Fisheries, Marine Ecology and Oceanography (SSI IFMEO), Oleksandra Konyskoho St., 82a, 04053 Kyiv, Ukraine

https://doi.org/10.71424/azb77.4.002933

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Abstract

Following the deliberate destruction of the Kakhovka Dam (Ukraine; 6th June, 2023), freshwater from the reservoir flowed into the Black Sea, resulting in widespread desalination (< 8‰) and pollution near the Odessa coast, negatively affecting populations of Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis. Subsequent surveys revealed mass mortalities on both natural (rock) and artificial (traverses, piers) substrates at depths of 1–3 m. Maximal valve length of dead mussels was 61 mm on both natural and artificial substrates, with average length of dead mussels on rock increasing with depth from 41.33±1.37 mm at 1 m to 45.69±3.06 mm at 3 m. In all cases, linear dimensions of dead mussels exceeded 20 mm, suggesting that critically low salinity wiped out the most valuable reproductive cohort of the population in the affected region.

Key words

bivalves, Black Sea, desalination impacts, technogenic disaster, Kakhovka Reservoir, mussel mortality

How to Cite
Stadnichenko S., Bondarenko O., Kvach Y. – Destruction of the Kakhovka Dam (Ukraine) and Its Impact on Mediterranean Mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) Populations in the Gulf of Odesa. 2025. Acta zoologica bulgarica 77 (4): 503-514.

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