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Published By Departmento De Publicaciones Del Csic

1886-8134, 0214-8358

2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 257-270
Author(s):  
Roi Martínez-Escauriaza ◽  
Francesca Gizzi ◽  
Lídia Gouveia ◽  
Nuno Gouveia ◽  
Margarida Hermida

Small-scale recreational and artisanal fisheries are popular activities in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, and to date no information is available on their impact on regional coastal ecosystems. Through fishers’ surveys and official registers of fish landings, we described and characterized these fisheries in Madeira, comparing artisanal and recreational fisheries. In 2017, artisanal boats landed 91 species in fishing ports, while recreational catches landed 58 species. The most frequent catches were Dentex gibbosus, Phycis phycis and Pagrus pagrus for artisanal fishery and P. pagrus, Serranus atricauda and Diplodus spp. for recreational fishery. Comparing the same techniques, artisanal fishery always showed higher catch per unit effort values than recreational boat fishery. Nevertheless, the low number of artisanal fishery boats in comparison with the recreational ones reflected the lower total landings of the artisanal fishery, which in 2017 were 62.3 t, compared with the 509.8 t estimated catches for the recreational fishery. Though the estimated recreational fishing data were based on surveys and thus subject to various biases, this activity seems to negatively affect coastal ecosystems and, together with artisanal fishing, exerts a combined pressure on targeted species. Improved legislation for both fisheries is essential for an appropriate management of resources.


2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 225-244
Author(s):  
Carles Roqué Pau ◽  
Mario Zarroca Hernández ◽  
Rogelio Linares Santiago

This article describes the geomorphological and petrological characteristics of 19 submerged beachrocks located on the north Catalan coast (western Mediterranean Sea). Their length ranges between 8 and 1039 m, their width between 1.5 and 86.5 m and their thickness between 0.4 and 3.25 m. They are siliciclastic beachrocks consisting of well-rounded gravels with a very coarse sand matrix, and they have a low proportion of bioclasts (<1%). Cementation occurred in the swash zone and adjacent foreshore due to the precipitation of high magnesium calcite. From absolute dates (14C and optically stimulated luminescence) and anthropic artifacts, three phases of formation attributable to the Late Holocene were identified. Phase I corresponds to the warm and humid Roman Period and was recorded at a level below -3.75 m mean sea level (MSL). Phase II corresponds to the warm and arid Medieval Climate Anomaly and was recorded at +0.25 m to -2.5 m MSL. Phase III corresponds to the Little Ice Age and Industrial Period and was recorded at levels ranging from +0.5 m to -3.0 m MSL. Good temporal correspondence between the chronology of the cementation phases and warm and/or dry palaeoclimatic conditions can be established.


2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 245-255
Author(s):  
Valéria Marques Lemos ◽  
Henrique Cabral ◽  
Stephanie Pasquaud ◽  
João Paes Vieira

The southern population of Mugil liza is distributed from Argentina (47°S) to the state of São Paulo, Brazil (23°S). Young mullets use the estuaries as nursery grounds, and prior to recruitment into estuaries they use the surf zone as a temporary habitat. Based on 12 consecutive months of sampling, this study used generalized linear models (GLM) to analyse the relationships between environmental variables and the presence and relative abundance of young mullets in the surf zone adjacent to six major estuaries in southern Brazil (between 29°S and 33°S). Young mullets were present in all seasons over the sampling period, but the probability of occurrence was higher in winter and was associated with low temperatures. The water temperature alone explained more than half of the total deviance of the GLM models for presence (23%) and abundance (21%) of young mullets in the surf zone. Site 2 (Rio Grande) had lower temperatures in the colder months, the highest probability of occurrence of all collection sites and the greatest abundance (n=3402) of young M. liza, which represented 52% of the total of individuals (n=6493) caught among the six sites sampled.


2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-173
Author(s):  
Sílvia Pérez-Mayol ◽  
Itziar Álvarez ◽  
Inmmaculada Riera-Batle ◽  
Amalia Grau ◽  
Beatriz Morales-Nin

We determined the efficacy of marking the otoliths of three small-sized progenetic gobies to validate their increment periodicity. These small gobies have high mortalities and rearing difficulties, making direct validation difficult. The otoliths were marked by immersing the fish in a bath of alizarin red S. The fishes were euthanatized and the number of increments in their otoliths laid down after the fluorescent mark were counted and compared with the number of elapsed days. The results validated the daily periodicity of Aphia minuta and Pseudaphya ferreri. The high mortality hindered the validation of Crystallogobius linearis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-220
Author(s):  
Vanessa Ochi Agostini ◽  
Letícia Terres Rodrigues ◽  
Alexandre José Macedo ◽  
Erik Muxagata

Though a large number of techniques are available for the study of aquatic bacteria, the aim of this study was to establish a technique for analysing free-living and biofilm prokaryotic cells through laboratory assays. In particular, we wished to analyse the efficiency of ultrasound to detach and disrupt biofilm, to obtain an efficient stain treatment for quantifying free-living and biofilm prokaryotes in flow cytometry (FC), and to compare epifluorescence microscopy (EFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and FC for quantifying free-living and biofilm prokaryotes#. Marine-grade plywood substrates were immersed in natural marine water that was conditioned for 12 days. At 6 and 12 days, water aliquots and substrates were removed to estimate free-living and biofilm prokaryote density. Ultrasound efficiently removed marine biofilm from substrates (up to 94%) without cell damage. FC analysis (unstained) reliably quantified marine plankton and young or mature biofilm prokaryotes compared with other staining (acridine orange, 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole, propidium iodide and green fluorescent nucleic acid), EFM or SEM techniques. FC and SEM achieved similar results, while a high variability was observed in the EFM technique. FC was faster and more precise than SEM because the count is not dependent on the observer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 187-195
Author(s):  
Sinlapachai Senarat ◽  
Jes Kettratad ◽  
Wannee Jiraungkoorskul ◽  
Niwat Kangwanrangsan ◽  
Masafumi Amano ◽  
...  

Rastrelliger brachysoma is a mariculture candidate species, but reproduction in captive fish has been problematic. This report examines the difference in the HPG axis, the neuroendocrine system and the development of reproductive tissues between captive vs. wild male R. brachysoma. The gonadosomatic index (GSI) of sexually mature male wild R. brachysoma was 1.12±0.34 and 1.94±0.26 during the non-breeding and breeding seasons, respectively. Captive R. brachysoma had a GSI of 1.88±0.17. All wild R. brachysoma were in the late spermatogenic stage irrespective of seasons. Immunostaining results showed that sbGnRH-immunoreactive neurons were distributed in three areas of the brain, namely the nucleus periventricularis, nucleus preopticus and nucleus lateralis tuberis. Follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone immunoreactivities were also observed in the pituitary gland. The levels of brain sbGnRH and GtH mRNA were not significantly different between the non-breeding and breeding seasons, but captive fish displayed (times or percent difference) lower mRNA levels than wild fish. These results suggest that these hormones control the testicular development in R. brachysoma and that the impaired reproduction in captivity may be due to their relative lower expression levels of follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone genes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-209
Author(s):  
Serdar Yedier ◽  
Derya Bostanci

This study was conducted to discriminate five Scorpaena species and populations of each species according to morphometric characters. A total of 1865 fish specimens were collected from the eight locations in the four Turkish seas: Antalya, Balıkesir, Çanakkale, Hatay, İzmir, Marmara Ereğlisi, Ordu and Şile. In the study, 26 morphometric traits were measured for intra- and interspecific discrimination of five Scorpaena species. The data were subjected to analysis of variance, principal components analysis (PCA) and canonical discriminant analysis. As results of the PCA, 10 traits for S. maderensis and S. scrofa, 12 traits for S. elongata and 13 traits for S. notata and S. porcus were found to be important for intraspcific discrimination. The overall classification scores of intraspecific discrimination were determined as 94.6% for S. elongata, 90.5% for S. maderensis, 96.7% for S. notata, 96.5% for S. porcus and 92.2% for S. scrofa. The PCA indicated that 13 morphometric measurements among the 26 traits are important in the interspecific discrimination of five Scorpaena species. The cross-validated canonical discriminant analysis was correctly classified as 97.4% at the Scorpaena species level. The discrimination of correctly classified species ranged from 94.8% to 100%. Finally, we demonstrated that the morphometric characters examined in the present study can be used successfully in the intra- and interspecific discrimination of Scorpaena species from different habitats.


2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 157-167
Author(s):  
José A. González ◽  
Sandra Correia ◽  
Sebastián Jiménez ◽  
Carlos A. Monteiro ◽  
João Delgado ◽  
...  

The present study was conceptualized to study the muraenid species (moray eels) occurring around the volcanic archipelagos of the Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canary and Cabo Verde islands (eastern-central Atlantic). The biogeographic patterns of these species were analysed and compared. We then hypothesized that this fish family is an ideal group for testing at small-scale the coherency of Macaronesia and its direct biogeographic units: i.e. the Azores, Webbnesia and Cabo Verde, as proposed in recent scientific literature. Additionally, this paper provides for the first time separate fishery statistics for this group in the region that were analysed to contrast the biogeographic results.


2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-185
Author(s):  
Danilo Malara ◽  
Francesco Longo ◽  
Luca Pagano ◽  
Maria Giulia Stipa ◽  
Teresa Romeo ◽  
...  

This is the first paper to provide detailed information on the age and growth of Trachinotus ovatus. The size of the 244 individuals collected in the Strait of Messina ranged from 2.7 to 30.4 cm in fork length (LF) and 0.31 to 508.6 g in body mass (M). The relationship between these parameters (M - LF) was investigated and showed a good fit. Age estimation based on vertebrae and otoliths yielded similar results, suggesting a maximum age of five years. However, the precision and accuracy tests, such as percentage of agreement (PA), mean coefficient of variation (ACV) and average percent error (APE) indicated that the otolith readings (97.83% PA, 0.54% ACV and 0.38% APE) were more reliable for age estimation than vertebrae readings (82.17% PA, 5.33% ACV and 3.77% APE). The multi-model inference approach allowed us to compare different non-linear growth models. The von Bertalanffy model (L∞=29.139, k=0.496 and t0=−0.347) fitted the length-at-age data best. This species has a relatively rapid growth and an estimated longevity of five to seven years. This information could be used for management and first stock assessment studies on T. ovatus in the Mediterranean Sea.


2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-80
Author(s):  
Enric Real ◽  
Ainhoa Bernal ◽  
Beatriz Morales-Nin ◽  
Balbina Molí ◽  
Itziar Alvarez ◽  
...  

The age and growth patterns of the mesopelagic fish Ceratoscopelus maderensis (family Myctophidae) of the western Mediterranean Sea were described throughout its entire life cycle (from larvae to adult stages) using the sagittae otoliths of 59 individuals collected in December 2009. Three characteristic zones were identified along the cross-section of the sagittae (larval, metamorphic and juvenile-adult zones). Assuming growth rings as daily increments, the age of the analysed individuals (from 3.5 to 64 mm standard length [SL]) would range from 7 to 332 days. The relationship between the number of increments and the fish SL was fitted to a von Bertalanffy growth model (SL=70.5899Å~(1–exp(–0.0501(t+2.6705))). The growth pattern of C. maderensis in the western Mediterranean Sea was similar to that reported for this species in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. Though from a body size of 40-45 mm SL, growth rates declined more slowly in individuals from the western Mediterranean Sea, growth differences between these individuals and those from the northeast Atlantic Ocean were not statistically significant. This study provides new insights into the age and growth patterns of one of the most abundant mesopelagic fish species in the Mediterranean Sea that have clear implications for the study and management of marine ecosystems.


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