The Aral and Caspian Seas belong to the group of the World’s
largest brackish water basins that are characterized by a long
geological history and unique biota, including a rich and
diverse fauna of mollusks (bivalves and gastropods). Though
the history of scientific exploration of the Aralo-Caspian malacofauna
can be traced back to the end of the 18th century, there
is still a lack of a comprehensive and illustrated survey of Mollusca
of these two sea basins. The book provides an annotated
inventory of the recent Bivalvia and Gastropoda of the Aral
and Caspian Sea, with their synonymy, notes on ecology and
distribution, and images of shells (including numerous images
of type specimens – holotypes, lectotypes, syntypes, etc.). An
extensive overview of the physical geographical conditions of
the two basins as well as their geological history is provided
alongside with an outline of the historical development of their
malacofaunas. The systematic part contains a description of the
fauna, represented in the Aral Sea by two species of Gastropoda
and seven species of Bivalvia, and in the Caspian Sea by 33–34 species of Bivalvia and 63 species of Gastropoda. These
estimates, however, are of provisional character only, since
the high level of taxonomic uncertainty makes it impossible
to determine exactly the actual number of living species.
A special discussion is devoted to the drastic degradation of
the Aralo-Caspian malacofauna in the former century, which
was caused primarily by the anthropogenic destruction of the
aquatic environment and inflow of alien molluscan species