THE CURRENT STATE OF THE KEFAL FAMILY (MUGILIDAE) IN THE COASTAL ZONE OF THE DAGHESTAN COAST OF THE CASPIAN SEA

Abstract

For more than a century of active commercial exploitation and environmental changes in the Caspian Sea, the structure of the population of marine fish species has undergone significant qualitative and quantitative changes. In this group of fish until 1960, the main role in the fishery was played by sea herring, which provided up to 50–70% of the total fish catch in the region. Interest in the study of marine fish of the Caspian Sea, using the example of mullets, Black Sea acclimatizers, is due to the fact that under new conditions, as well as a result of deep negative changes in the ecology of this reservoir under the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors, especially recently. At present, among marine fish, one of the main and promising fishing objects is mullet, which, since the period of acclimatization, has formed a high abundance in the coastal zone of the Daghestan coast of the Caspian Sea. Mullet are euryhaline fish that can live both in sea, salty water, and freshwater bodies. In this regard, the objects of this study were mullet (singil), the study of their commercial catches and stocks in the Caspian Sea.