Occurrence of fish species in the inland water of Murmansk Region (Russia): research in 1972-2021

Abstract Background Knowledge about the distribution of organisms on Earth is important backbone of biological sciences and especially for deeper understanding of biogeography. However, much of the existing distributional data are scattered throughout a multitude of sources (including in different languages), such as taxonomic publications, checklists and natural history collections and often, bringing them together is difficult. Development of the digital storage facilities may prevent loss of important data (Ruchin et al. 2020). Project GBIF is a good example of a successful data storage facility, which allows investigators to publish biodiversity data in one safe place in one uniform format. Our dataset describes the degree of the investigation of the fish fauna of the inland water of the Murmansk Region. Murmansk Region is a Euro-Arctic Region with a heterogeneous landscape, which determines diversity of the habitats for the fish occurrence. Our dataset contains valid information about distribution of the fish species. This dataset was built upon information obtained by the members of a Laboratory of the aquatic ecosystems of the Institute of North Industrial Ecology Problems of Kola Science Center of the Russian Academy of Science (INEP KSC RAS). The dataset includes 18,509 records about 16 fish species from 14 genera (eight families) collected from 1972 to 2021. A total of 67 water bodies from 15 different basins (rivers from basins of the White and Barents Seas) was screened in order to characterise ichthyocenoses. The main purpose of publishing a database is to make our data available in the global biodiversity system to a wide range of users. The data can be used by researchers, as well as helping the authorities to manage their territory more efficiently. New information All occurrences are published in GBIF for the first time. We would like to make this data available to everyone by adding it in the global biodiversity database (GBIF).


Introduction
The most recent fish biodiversity study of the circumpolar Arctic has shown large knowledge gaps in species distributions and ecology (Laske et al. 2019). This fact complicates valid estimation of the tendencies of the long-term transformations of the biodiversity of the fishes in the relationships with quickly-changing environmental conditions. Extensive development of the Euro-Arctic zone of Russia, together with global environmental change, leads to the dramatic shift in structural-functional order of ecosystems. Many freshwater systems of the Murmansk Region are experiencing disturbance of the biomass production as a consequence of long-term extensive industrial pollution and imbalance of the climate. Shifting of the species composition, introduction of the invasive species and imbalance of the complex interspecies and symbiotic relationships of aquatic biota also occur (Moiseenko and Yakovlev 1990, Nost et al. 1991Nost et al. 1997, Kashulin et al. 1999, Gidrometeoizdat 1961, Dauwalter 2000, Meltofte 2013, Laske et al. 2019, Zubova et al. 2020a. Murmansk Region is one of the largest developed and urbanised parts of the Northern-European Russia. Due to extensive pollution of the water bodies in the second half of the 20 century, the focus of researchers has been on fishes as the bioindicators (Reshetnikov 1968, Reshetnikov 1980, Moiseenko 1983, Moiseenko 1991, Moiseenko 1996, Moiseenko 1997, Moiseenko 2000, Moiseenko 2002, Moiseenko and Yakovlev 1990, Nost et al. 1991, Nost et al. 1997, Lukin and Kashulin 1992, Lukin 1998, Moiseenko et al. 1994, Sharova and Lukin 2000, Kashulin et al. 1999, Kashulin et al. 2005, Kashulin et al. 2007, Kashulin et al. 2009, Moiseenko and Lukin 1999, Kashulin 2004, Terentyev 2005, Reshetnikov et al. 2011, Reshetnikov et al. 2020 Kashulin 2012, Zubova 2015, Zubova et al. 2015, Zubova et al. 2016, Zubova et al. 2018, Zubova et al. 2020a, Zubova et al. 2020b, Zubova et al. 2020c, Terentyev et al. 2017, Terentyev et al. 2019, Denisov et al. 2020. Fishes are an essential part of any aquatic ecosystem and as members of trophic nets, they also have a large economic value as a food source for humans. Fishes are long-living animals in the highest trophic levels of food webs of Arctic lakes. Due to their biological features, they may reflect direct and indirect changes of the environment. Study of ichthyocenoses may help to determine negative effects of the whole complex of the different factors, including the impact on the other components of the aquatic ecosystem (Moiseenko 1991, Kashulin et al. 1999. Investigation and the monitoring of the fishes as a part of the community of the inland waters of the Murmansk Region promotes determination of the tendencies of the long-term changes in the aquatic ecosystems of the Arctic zone. Results of this research also may play a role in the development of the management plans for the conservation of the species diversity of the fishes. This study aims to describe a dataset of up-to-date data on the occurrence of fish species in inland waters of Murmansk Region (European Russia), Norway and Finland from NFH and INEP collections which we have been recently published in GBIF as the Darwin Core Archive (Zubova et al. 2021). Step description: The field names of the dataset were chosen according to Darwin Core (Wieczorek et al. 2012) and include the following: "collectionCode", "institutionCode", "datasetName", "basisOfRecord", "occurrenceID", "country", "countryCode", "stateProvince", "recordNumber", "sex", "lifeStage", "eventDate", "year", "month", "day", "locality", "habitat", "decimalLatitude", "decimalLongitude", "geodeticDatum", "coordinateUncertaintyInMetres", "scientificName", "kingdom", "phylum", "class", "order", "family", "genus", "specificEpithet".

Geographic coverage
Description: This dataset contains information about distribution of the fish species of 67 freshwater waterbodies (15 river basins) of the Murmansk Region (Table 1).
Research was held within the territory of the Murmansk Region. It occupies the eastern part of the Baltic Shield, which consists of rocks of the magmatic foundation and loose quaternary sediments on the top. The total area of the Murmansk Region is 144,900 km and the majority of the area is within the Polar Circle. The geographic area of Murmansk Region is divided into two parts: continental (territory west from Kandalaksha -Murmansk conventional meridian line) and peninsular (territory east from Kandalaksha -Murmansk conventional meridian line) and Sredniy/Rybachiy Peninsula (north-western Barents Sea coast of the Murmansk Region) (Miloserdov 1971, Gidrometizdat 1968).
The location of the sample sites is shown in Fig. 1. There are many large industrial manufacturers in the Murmansk Region; they are the main sources of the anthropogenic pollution of the inland water. Industrial pollution of the water bodies of the Murmansk Region is caused by operation of mining and processing of minerals, as well as transport and energy facilities.
Sample sites of the fish material on the territory of the Murmansk Region.
Occurrence of fish species in the inland water of Murmansk Region (Russia): ...
The territory of the Murmansk Region is extremely heterogeneous. There are massive mountains (Khibiny, Lovoserskie, Chuna and Volchyi tundry) in here with the following altitude range: 900-1200 m a.s.l. (Miloserdov 1971). Terrain on the border with Finland and Norway is represented by frequent lakes within the forests, sometimes with swamps. The landscape of the region is mainly ridge-hilly (120-450 m a.s.l.). Hills and ridges are 10-60 m to 180 m a.s.l.. Specificity of the relief and climate (influence of the warm Atlantic oceanic streams, determining warm airflow from the west) determines clear vertical, meridional and latitudinal zonality, as well as mosaic distribution of the forests and tundra. Moraine, sandy and sandy loam soils with boulders and gravel (with 6 m thickness) were dominant on the investigated territory. Sand and pebble soils with boulders were distributed in the valleys of some rivers. Rubble-sandy, rocky and broken stones occurred on the slopes and tops of the mountains. Basic and ultra-basic magmatic rocks, which may be seen in cliffs of mountain slopes are usually covered by loose soils (Richter 1946, Gidrometeoizdat 1961, Miloserdov 1971, B.I. Koshechkin 1975. Magmatic rocks are here characterised by high calcium, magnesium and iron content, which give elevated buffer capacity of the water bodies (Moiseenko 1996

Taxonomic coverage
Description: Species cited in literary sources, but not confirmed by our catches, are not considered here. Species rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss and carp Cyprinus carpio have been introduced, the other species are native. Our studies of the water bodies of Murmansk Region revealed the presence of two whitefish Coregonus lavaretus morphs: sparsely rakered and medium rakered. The sparsely rakered whitefish is the most common and can be found in water bodies on its own, while the medium rakered morph is less common and observed only alongside the sparsely rakered one. In general, in sparsely rakered whitefish, the number of gill rakers ranges between 15 and 31, in medium rakered whitefish between 27 and 44. Amongst whitefishes with 27 to 31 gill rakers, both sparsely rakered and medium rakered morphs were observed, distinguishable by the shape of the rakers. The geographic latitude (in decimal degrees, using the spatial reference system given in geodeticDatum) of the geographic centre of a location decimalLongitude The geographic longitude (in decimal degrees, using the spatial reference system given in geodeticDatum) of the geographic centre of a location.