Pacific Boreal Subregion

a marine zoogeographic subregion of the boreal region. It is located in the northern temperate zone of the Pacific Ocean and has provisional boundaries.

Characteristic of the Pacific boreal subregion are Phaeophyceae (for example, Macrocystis, which reaches up to 60 m in length) of the algae; oysters, mussels, scallops, Pacific lobster, and the Dophleina octopus of the mollusks; and Copepoda (for example, the Pacific Calanus) of the crustaceans, as well as decapods such as the “chilim” shrimp and king crab. Sea slugs represent the echinoderms. Chum, pink salmon, chinook, sockeye, and other Far Eastern Salmonidae, as well as the West Pacific sardine, are the subregion’s characteristic fish. The indigenous birds are particular species of Alcidae. The sea lion, fur seal, sea otter, Pacific right whale, gray whale, and Dall porpoise are the indigenous mammals. Certain species inhabit the waters off both the American and Asiatic coasts of the Pacific Ocean—that is, they have an amphipacific distribution.