Vilkitsky Island (East Siberian Sea) Russian Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition led by Boris Vilkitsky on the ships "Taymyr" and "Vaygach" on behalf of the Russian Hydrographic Service in order to chart the last blank areas of Russian maps. Vilkitsky Island (East Siberian Sea) Vilkitsky Island (; "Ostrov Vilkitskogo") is the southernmost island of the De Long group in the northern part of the East Siberian Sea. Administratively Vilkitsky Island belongs to the Sakha Republic administrative division of the Russian Federation. The island is named after Russian hydrographer Boris Vilkitsky. The island is outside of the limits of permanent ice and is unglaciated. At barely Vilkitsky
East Siberian Sea ("Eschrichtius robustus"), beluga ("Delphinapterus leucas") and narwhal ("Monodon monoceros"). Major fish species are grayling and "Coregonus" (whitefishes), such as muksun ("Coregonus muksun"), broad whitefish ("Coregonus nasus") and omul ("Coregonus autumnalis"). Also common are polar smelt, saffron cod, polar cod, flounder and Arctic char. The coast of the East Siberian Sea was inhabited for ages by the native peoples of northern Siberia such as Yukaghirs and Chukchi (eastern areas). Those tribes were engaged in fishing, hunting and reindeer husbandry, as reindeer sleds were essential for transportation and hunting. They were joined and absorbed by Evens and Evenks around the 2nd century