[Study of the new settler Beroe ovata in the Black sea]

Primary data on population, size, and distribution of a new settler--comb jelly Beroe ovata--in the Black Sea are presented. We studied certain aspects of its nutrition, consumed organisms, and digestion time. Comb jellies Mnemiopsis leidyi and Pleurobachia pileus were established as the nutritional targets of B. ovata. Mnemiopsis proved to be more accessible and assimilable. Preliminary data on metabolic level and threshold oxygen content in B. ovata were obtained; proportions of dry and wet weight of B. ovata were determined. Population changes of new settler Mnemiopsis and other jellylike animals in the Northeast part of the sea induced by B. ovata were analyzed. We observed sharp decrease in population of Mnemiopsis, a species that induced degradation of the Black Sea ecosystem within the last decade.