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Island Natural Resources Intertidal and nearshore subtidal benthic invertebrates around the Pribilofs have received little intense study, though most forms are expected to occur widely around the Bering Sea. William H. Dall (1899, 539–546) summarized the knowledge of molluscan fauna in 1899. He credits Russian naturalist Elia Wossnessenski with making the first collection of mollusks on St. Paul Island circa 1850. Dall identified sixty-six species on St. Paul Island and forty-two species on St. George Island. Included on his list is the nektonic giant squid; he wrote, “I have heard that specimens have been cast ashore on St. Paul, though no naturalist has seen them.” Dall (1899, 539–546) also noted the brachiopod Rhynchonella (Hemithyris) psittacea was “abundant at times on St. Paul beaches,” and he described a tunicate, Boltenia beringi, from St. George Island. William Emerson Ritter (1899) provided a more detailed description of the tunicates of the Pribilof Islands, though he did not list Boltenia beringi. Mary J. Rathbun (1899, 555–557) provided a list of Crustacea occurring on and near the Pribilof Islands. More recently, Russian scientists conducted a detailed study of the St. Paul Island Salt Lagoon (Flint et al. 1999). They found eighty species of benthic organisms from ten higher taxa in samples collected from the lagoon, harbor, and the connecting channel. Amphipod and polychaete species were dominant taxa. Species richness was the highest in the harbor, with thirty-three species collected at one sampling station. The highest biomass (81 grams per square meter) was found at a Salt Lagoon sampling station.
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