Distribution and abundance of copepod nauplii in southern part of the East China Sea: implications for prey availability to jack mackerel Trachurus japonicus larvae

In the southern part of the East China Sea (ECS), a large spawning ground of jack mackerel Trachurus japonicus has recently been found: Larval survival during the period of transport from the spawning ground along the shelf break is potentially a critical stage prior to recruitment. As such, the distribution of copepod nauplii in this region was investigated during the main spawning period in 2003–2006. The average naupliar density in 2003 was significantly higher than the other years along the shelf break, which is a major transport pathway for jack mackerel larvae (sea-surface temperature 20–23°C). Estimated egg production rates for Paracalanus spp., one of the most dominant genera of copepods in the southern ECS, based on temperature and chlorophyll-a concentration could not fully explain the spatial and annual variation in naupliar distribution and abundance. Although naupliar densities showed significant positive correlations with chlorophyll-a concentration for all years, an analysis of covariance revealed that naupliar density in 2003 was high even if the effect of chlorophyll-a concentration was excluded. This suggests that apart from copepod production, adult female distribution plays an important role in variability of the naupliar distribution and abundance in the southern ECS.     

Enhancement of the expression of ice-nucleation activity of Pseudomonas fluorescens MACK-4 isolated from mackerel

ABSTRACT:    The growth of Pseudomonas fluorescens MACK-4 isolated from mackerel in dextrin and starch broths was faster than that grown in other broths. The highest ice-nucleating activity (INA) was observed on those grown in media with sorbitol, mannose or starch using peptone as a nitrogen source. According to OD₆₀₀, the cells seemed to be difficult to grow in media with inorganic substances, malt extract or gelatine nitrogen sources. However, rapid growth was observed on the media with peptone, yeast extract, tryptone or skim milk. The concentrations of carbon or nitrogen sources did not significantly affect the INA. The INA was greatly induced when the growth temperature was shifted from 30 to 5°C. However, it was not affected by transferring the cells into media with a deficiency of nutrients. According to the chemical agents and metal effects on INA, the active site on the proteins of INA components might contain an SH group.     

Variation in the condition factors of California pelagic fishes and associated environmental factors

Time series of condition factors for mackerel, Scomber japonicus , jack mackerel, Truchurus symmetricus , and northern anchovy, Engraulis mordax , stocks in the Southern California region were compared with time series of oceanographic indices to develop hypotheses concerning physical environmental forcing of the population dynamics and energetics of small pelagic fishes. Mackerel and jack mackerel condition factor time series showed decade-scale variation, whereas those of anchovy showed coherent fluctuations for 1 to 2 years. Mackerel, and to a lesser extent jack mackerel, condition factors were correlated with proxy indices of alongshore advection (sea level), offshore advection (Ekman transport), ambient temperature (shore station temperature), and ambient salinity (shore station salinity). The condition factor of anchovy was much less correlated with environmental variables. Multiple regression analyses which included sea level, upwelling and salinity proxies explained 80% (33%) of the variance in the annual (monthly) condition factor of mackerel. The first-order variation in condition factors of mackerel and jack mackerel suggests that they are responding to very large-scale perturbations of the California Current system which are at least partially described by variations in sea level. The population size of mackerel is apparently also responding to these large-scale perturbations, making it difficult to isolate environmental dependence of condition factors from density dependence. The second-order variation is more regional in nature and unexpectedly it appears to be associated with upwelling in the Baja California region.     

发酵鲭鱼中一株组胺降解菌的系统发育分析及特性研究

为筛选出具有优良组胺降解能力的细菌,并探索其在发酵食品中的应用,使用乳酸细菌(MRS)、结晶紫中性红胆盐葡萄糖琼脂(VRBDA)和2216E琼脂培养基对传统发酵鲭鱼(Scomber japonicus)中的组胺降解菌进行分离纯化,测定其生长、产酶特性及对发酵鲭鱼生物胺的降解作用。结果表明,菌株V-TB-2-5具有较高的降组胺活性,通过16S rRNA基因序列系统发育学分析结合形态特征确定为产氮假单胞菌(Pseudomonas azotoformans)。在营养肉汤培养基中,该菌的生长和产酶条件范围为20~40℃、pH值5~8、NaCl浓度0~3.5%(质量分数w/v),最适生长和产酶条件为30℃、pH值6、1.5%NaCl。酶反应的最适条件为30℃、pH值7。Mn²⁺、Mg²⁺和K⁺等金属离子对酶有激活作用,Fe³⁺或EDTA则有抑制作用。在传统发酵鲭鱼中,人工强化接种菌株V-TB-2-5与对照组相比组胺含量明显下降,组胺降解率为18.2%~40.7%;同时,接种组中亚精胺含量下降极显著,而精胺则上升。本研究为菌株V-TB-2-5在水产品加工和贮藏过程中组胺生物降解的控制提供了应用依据。     

Quantifying the influence of geography and environment on the northeast Atlantic mackerel spawning distribution

Mackerel (Scomber scombrus) in the northeast Atlantic have shown changes in distribution at certain times of the year, which have impacted their exploitation and management. In this study, mackerel spawning habitat over 21 recent years was characterised using generalised additive modelling, based on spatial egg density data collected every third year during targeted ichthyoplankton surveys. Mackerel spawning distribution was found to depend primarily on geographical variables (coordinates and bottom depth), with preferred spawning locations on the shelf‐edge from the north of the Iberian peninsula to the west of Scotland, with a maximum west of Ireland. Environmental drivers had a lesser influence on egg distribution. Dome shaped relationships were found with temperature and mixed layer depth, with respective optimum at 13°C and around –300 m. The model was used to reconstruct maps of the potential habitat (areas where conditions were suitable, but not necessarily used, for spawning). Little changes were observed over the years in the potential habitat, suggesting that the expansion of the egg distribution (realised habitat) was not triggered by changes in the environmental variables investigated. Little evidence was found for density‐dependent habitat selection. There was a tendency for mackerel to make more use of areas of lesser suitability in years with large stock size (1992 and 2010). This pattern, however, broke down in 2013, when stock size was the highest, as spawning occurred very south and concentrated in the most suitable habitat.     

Effect of Liquid Smoke Dipping and Packaging Method on the Keeping Quality of Raw and Cooked Chub Mackerel (Scomber japonicus) Fillets

Changes in biochemical and sensory attributes of chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus) fillets during storage treated by immersion in a 12% NaCl brine with or without 0.2% liquid smoke were investigated. Brine-treated chub mackerel fillets were packaged in modified atmosphere or under vacuum and were stored at 4°C. The brined fillets were stored and evaluated raw and after heat treatment as cooked samples. Fish fillets were assessed organoleptically to determine acceptability and by measuring the pH, oxidation levels (TBARS test), and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVBN). Fillets treated in brine with liquid smoke exhibited similar pH and significantly lower TBARS and TVBN values (p < 0.05). The combination of the use of brines containing liquid smoke and subsequent vacuum packaging produced the lowest TBARS and TVBN values and resulted in extended acceptability.     

Isolation,Purification, and Biochemical Characterization of Trypsin from Indian Mackerel (Rastralliger kanagurta)

Trypsin from viscera of Indian mackerel (Rastralliger kanagurta) was purified by ammonium sulphate precipitation and chromatographic techniques such as size exclusion, ion exchange, and affinity chromatography, with a 14.4-fold increase in specific activity and 18.7% recovery. The molecular weight of the trypsin was estimated to be approximately 26 kDa using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Purified trypsin showed amidase-specific activity which was determined using benzoyl-dl-arginine-p-nitroanilide (BAPNA). The optimum pH and temperature for isolated trypsin activity were 9.0 and 50°C, respectively. The purified trypsin was strongly inhibited by soybean trypsin inhibitor (SBTI) and N-p-tosyl-1-lysine chloromethyl ketone (TLCK). Purified trypsin showed almost 40% recovery at high NaCl concentration (30%). The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the first 10 amino acids of purified trypsin was IVGGYESQPH. The Michaelis-Menten constant (K_m) and catalytic constant (K_cat) of purified trypsin were 0.430 mM and 0.77 s^?1, respectively, determined using BAPNA as a substrate. Purified trypsin showed digestion of casein similar to bovine trypsin by the fluorometric method.     

Forecasting of jack mackerel landings (Trachurus murphyi) in central‐southern Chile through neural networks

In the present study, the performance of neuronal networks models in monthly landing forecasting of jack mackerel (Trachurus murphyi) in central‐southern Chile (32°S–42°S) was assessed. Thus, monthly estimations for 10 environmental variables, fishing effort (fe) and jack mackerel landings for the period 1973–2008 were used. A preliminary analysis was done in order to remove strongly correlated variables. Sea surface temperature (SST) and fe are established as input variables, then, a non‐linear cross correlation analysis was performed to estimate the lag between the input variables and jack mackerel landings. Two models were adjusted: model one includes both training and testing cases randomly selected using all data involved in the analysed period; for model 2, the data is divided into two time series: the first from 1973 to 2002 used for training and the second between 2003 and 2008 used for validation. The external validation process for model 1 showed an explained variance of 92%, with a standard forecasting error of 30%. The explained variance for model 2 was 81%, with a standard forecasting error of 38%. Finally, the sensitivity analysis for both models showed the fe as the most influential variable to jack mackerel landings, which presents functionality depending on anthropogenic effects rather than environmental conditions.