The Occurrence of Pontonia Pinnophylax (Decapoda: Natantia: Pontoninae) in Pinna Nobilis (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Pinnidae) from the Mediterranean

Author(s):  
C.A. Richardson ◽  
H. Kennedy ◽  
C.M. Duarte ◽  
S.V. Proud

During the course of a survey into the distribution and growth of the fan mussels Pinna nobilis and Pinna rudis from the coastal waters of the Spanish Mediterranean the presence within the mussels of Pontonia pinnophylax has been recorded. Pontonia pinnophylax typically occurred in adult pairs, but occasionally solitary male individuals were found. The width of the cephalothorax is greater in females than males, whereas the chelae of the second periopods, which are unequal, are larger in males. There is a general relationship between the size of P. pinnophylax and its pinnid host; the largest individuals were found in the largest Pinna and vice versa.

1983 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Badri Fattal ◽  
Robert J. Vasl ◽  
Eliyahu Katzenelson ◽  
Hillel I. Shuval

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melita Peharda ◽  
David Gillikin ◽  
Bernd Schöne ◽  
Anouk Verheyden-Gillikin ◽  
Hana Uvanović ◽  
...  

<p><em>Pinna nobilis</em> is a large bivalve endemic to the Mediterranean Sea that lives in shallow coastal areas. Due to its size and relatively fast shell growth rates, it is an interesting taxon for high resolution geochemical and sclerochronological research. Subsequently to previous analyses of δ<sup>18</sup>O and δ<sup>13</sup>C in <em>P. nobilis</em> shells, here, we investigate nitrogen isotopes in the carbonate-bound organic matrix (δ<sup>15</sup>N<sub>CBOM</sub>) of this species. Our objectives were to test if <em>P. nobilis</em> shells (i) can be used as an indicator of the isotopic baseline of the system, and (ii) is a good candidate for obtaining high-resolution temporal data on environmental δ<sup>15</sup>N variability. Due to the multiple mass mortality events of <em>P. nobilis</em> spreading throughout the Mediterranean, including the Adriatic Sea, we also tested if (iii) <em>P. nobilis</em> geochemistry changes as a response to diseases.</p><p>Shells were opportunistically collected by skin diving from 4 shallow coastal localities in the eastern Adriatic, as a part of a project on mortality monitoring. Specimens from Lim channel (October 2019), Kaštela Bay (January 2020) and Mali Ston Bay (November 2019) were collected alive, while in Pag Bay, shells of three recently dead specimens were collected in September 2020. Tissue and epibionts were removed and shells carefully cleaned and air-dried. Shell powder was collected by milling sample swaths by hand using a DREMEL Fortiflex drill equipped with a 300 μm tungsten carbide drill bit. For δ<sup>15</sup>N<sub>CBOM</sub> analysis, three shells from each locality were processed and three replicas were collected from each of these shells by milling shallow lines parallel to the growth axis from the internal shell surface. In addition, high-resolution δ<sup>15</sup>N<sub>CBOM</sub> data were obtained for one shell from Kaštela by milling lines (N=40) perpendicular to the major growth axis from the external shell surface. From this shell we also collected shell powder for δ<sup>18</sup>O<sub>shell</sub> and δ<sup>13</sup>C<sub>shell</sub> analysis to enable placing δ<sup>15</sup>N<sub>CBOM</sub> into temporal context. Isotope samples were analyzed Union College on an elemental analyzer - isotope ratio mass spectrometer.</p><p>Results indicate significant differences in δ<sup>15</sup>N<sub>CBOM</sub> between sampling localities, with lowest values recorded for shells from Pag Bay (3.73±0.36‰), and highest for shells sampled in Lim channel (7.04±0.63‰). High-resolution δ<sup>15</sup>N<sub>CBOM</sub> data obtained from the shell collected from Kaštela Bay corresponded to a time interval from spring 2018 to spring 2019. These data showed relatively small variations (5.02±0.33‰). However, δ<sup>15</sup>N<sub>CBOM</sub> values increased to 8.65±1.61‰ closest to the shell margin, and were coupled with a decrease in δ<sup>13</sup>C<sub>shell</sub> values, indicating that this animal was experiencing stressful conditions several months prior to its death. According to our findings, δ<sup>15</sup>N<sub>CBOM</sub> values serve as an indicator of the isotopic baseline of the ecosystem as well as a potential powerful tool to study bivalve physiology.</p><p>Research was the supported by the Croatian Science Foundation, research project BivACME.</p>


Proceedings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (20) ◽  
pp. 1291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Imane Bourouhou ◽  
Farida Salmoun ◽  
Yusuf Gedik

Coastal areas play a crucial role in maintaining the ecological balance of ecosystems and developing the social and economic wellbeing of the countries bordering it. However, the pressure on both terrestrial and marine resources, the use of oceans as a wastes deposit, the growth of population and the increasing of urbanization and human activities in coastal areas are all causes for marine and coastal degradation. The present situation constitutes a significant danger in many places. As an example, the pollution of the coastal waters in the Mediterranean has increased in recent years. Industrialization, tourism and ports activities along the coastline of the Mediterranean are the main sources of many pollutants that have effects on human’s health and environment. So that, it is very important to examine seawater quality in order to protect the marine and coastal areas from degradation. Hence, comes the need to consider a physicochemical and bacteriological study to evaluate the quality of Tangier coastal seawater using the Water Quality Index (WQI). A campaign of 25 sampling points was conducted and the results of the WQI calculation have highlighted the Tangier water was between medium and bad.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Cabanellas-Reboredo ◽  
Maite Vázquez-Luis ◽  
Baptiste Mourre ◽  
Elvira Álvarez ◽  
Salud Deudero ◽  
...  

Abstract A mass mortality event is devastating the populations of the endemic bivalve Pinna nobilis in the Mediterranean Sea from early autumn 2016. A newly described Haplosporidian endoparasite (Haplosporidium pinnae) is the most probable cause of this ecological catastrophe placing one of the largest bivalves of the world on the brink of extinction. As a pivotal step towards Pinna nobilis conservation, this contribution combines scientists and citizens’ data to address the fast- and vast-dispersion and prevalence outbreaks of the pathogen. Therefore, the potential role of currents on parasite expansion was addressed by means of drift simulations of virtual particles in a high-resolution regional currents model. A generalized additive model was implemented to test if environmental factors could modulate the infection of Pinna nobilis populations. The results strongly suggest that the parasite has probably dispersed regionally by surface currents, and that the disease expression seems to be closely related to temperatures above 13.5 °C and to a salinity range between 36.5–39.7 psu. The most likely spread of the disease along the Mediterranean basin associated with scattered survival spots and very few survivors (potentially resistant individuals), point to a challenging scenario for conservation of the emblematic Pinna nobilis, which will require fast and strategic management measures and should make use of the essential role citizen science projects can play.


Oryx ◽  
1956 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 192-194
Author(s):  
Norman Lewis

Fish inhabiting shallow coastal waters in all accessible parts of the world are at this moment in the process of being exterminated, through the mass invasion of these waters by spear-fishermen. On the Mediterranean shores of France and Spain, and all round the coastline of Italy the process is almost complete, so far as several species of fish are concerned, and we learn from the magazines of spear-fishing enthusiasts, of new centres of their sport being continually established on the more remote coasts of the Adriatic, of Greece and of North Africa.


1984 ◽  
Vol 1 (19) ◽  
pp. 109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas L. Inman ◽  
Scott A. Jenkins

Man's intervention with coastal processes takes many forms. However, the most serious large scale, long term coastal erosion results from the interception by dams of rivers supplying sediment to the coast. This loss of sediment may have catastrophic effects along coasts where streams discharge directly into coastal waters. The Nile littoral cell is an impressive example of the effect of dams on coastal erosion. The Nile littoral cell is located in the southeastern Mediterranean Sea and extends 700 km from Alexandria, Egypt in the south to Akko, Israel in the north. The sediment load from the Nile River was deposited along the submerged portion of the delta, where it was sorted and transported to the east by the prevailing waves and by currents of the counterclockwise east Mediterranean gyre that commonly flows at about 50 cm sec over the delta. Prior to 1964, the turbid plume of the flood waters of the Nile River could be traced along the Mediterranean coast for over 700 km to the shores of Lebanon. Fine silt and clay sized material were carried easterly and into deeper water, while sand is carried easterly along the shelf and shore as far as Haifa Bay. Until 1964, the major sediment source of the littoral cell was the Nile River. Construction of the High Aswan Dam, which began filling in 1964, has resulted in a near absence of Nile River flow into the Mediterranean and a corresponding complete loss of the Nile River as a source of nutrients to coastal waters, and as an active sediment source for the delta and the coastline of the Nile littoral cell. As a result, the Nile Delta is now subject to severe erosion in a number of localities.


Author(s):  
Xavier Ges ◽  
Salvador Bará ◽  
Manuel García-Gil ◽  
Jaime Zamorano ◽  
Salvador J. Ribas ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-128
Author(s):  
A. F. Krakhmalnyi ◽  
Solomon P. Wasser ◽  
M. A. Krakhmalny ◽  
Eviatar Nevo

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