Evidence of homing of black rockfish Sebastes inermis using biotelemetry

ABSTRACT: The black rockfish Sebastes inermis is one of the most important fishery species along the coast from southern Hokkaido to Kyushu, Japan and is often found in rocks and Zostera areas. We conducted biotelemetry using coded ultrasonic transmitters to clarify the movement of the black rockfish that inhabited the seawall of the Kansai International Airport. We released 25 black rockfish at two points. One was the airport seawall and the other was side shallows off the Sensyu district. Seventeen black rockfish returned to their capture site after release. We used the V -test to determine whether the direction of movement was random or orientated. The black rockfish moved at random along the seawall within some hours after release ( P  > 0.05). Four hours after release, they moved to their home site intentionally ( P  < 0.0025).     

Marine biogeochemical response to a rapid warming in the main stream of the Kuroshio in the western North Pacific

Impact of climate change on marine biogeochemical parameters and ecosystem is one of the important issues of our environment. Direct evidence of marine pelagic ecosystem changes is found with warming of sea water and sea‐level rise in the main stream of the Kuroshio in the East China Sea and the western North Pacific during these three decades based on the analysis of long‐term comprehensive hydrographic observations. In terms of annual mean, the warming rate of surface air temperature and sea surface temperature ranged from 0.15 to 0.21°C per decade in and around the main stream of the Kuroshio in the East China Sea, which exceed the global mean warming rate of 0.128 ± 0.026°C per decade during the period from 1956 to 2005 reported in IPCC 2007. One of the features in this rapid warming region is an increase of number of Pterosagitta draco, a cosmopolitan warm‐water zooplankton. Biogeochemical parameters, such as wet weight of zooplankton, plant pigment and nutrients concentration in the upper 200 m have been decreasing while dissolved oxygen content and seawater temperature have been increasing in the upper 200 m in the main stream of the Kuroshio in the East China Sea. These observed linear trends of the biogeochemical parameters would be foresights for temperate oceans in the future.     

Genetic drift in a hatchery and the maintenance of genetic diversity in hatchery-wild systems

ABSTRACT:   Loss of within-population genetic diversity by genetic drift is related to stocking. In order to reduce it, selective use of wild-born individuals for hatchery broodstock is proposed. Its effectiveness is evaluated by the analytical method and numerical simulation. Results indicated that it is effective, especially when the ratio of released hatchery-produced individuals is high in the natural population. Loss of within-population genetic diversity by a few other strategies of broodstock preparation is also analyzed by numerical simulation and the effectiveness of these is also discussed.     

Evaluation of novel sulfonylurea derivatives with a fused heterocyclic moiety as paddy herbicides that control sulfonylurea‐resistant weeds

Herbicidal activity and acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibition of sulfonylurea derivatives with a fused heterocyclic moiety bonded to a sulfonyl group were investigated. Some compounds that had an imidazo[1,2‐b]pyridazine moiety substituted at the 2‐position by chlorine or methyl controlled sulfonylurea‐resistant (SU‐R) weeds and showed inhibitory activity to ALS prepared from SU‐R Schoenoplectus juncoides shoot. There was a correlation between in vitro and whole‐plant herbicidal activity of the compounds mentioned above against SU‐R Schoenoplectus juncoides. Among them 1‐(2‐chloro‐6‐propylimidazo[1,2‐b]pyridazin‐3‐ylsulfonyl)‐3‐(4,6‐dimethoxypyrimidin‐2‐yl)urea, propyrisulfuron, was selected for further evaluation. Propyrisulfuron effectively controlled paddy weeds at doses of 70 and 140 g a.i. ha^?1 with good rice selectivity in a field trial.     

Evaluation of the advantage of marine protected areas over the reduction of the fishing mortality coefficient

ABSTRACT:   In the present study, we compared the advantage of marine protected areas (MPA) to the reduction of the fishing mortality coefficient ( F ). We accomplished this by comparing the yield per recruitment (YPR) and spawner biomass per recruitment (SPR) under two controls. This was accomplished using a mathematical model. We used the following five measures as comparisons: (i) the condition of the fishery where the increase in YPR is possible; (ii) the increase in YPR or SPR obtained by allocating half the fishing ground as an MPA and by reducing F by half; (iii) the maximum YPR obtainable when the fishing mortality coefficient or the proportion of MPA in the fishing ground is completely controlled; (iv) the proportion of the MPA and the reduction ratio of F required for attaining 30% SPR; and (v) the YPR obtainable while maintaining 30% SPR. Our results show that the MPA has a minor disadvantage in terms of the first measure. The MPA is advantageous in increasing SPR in the second measure, with a low migration rate of fish. The MPA is also advantageous in increasing YPR in the second measure, with some intermediate migration. The MPA is disadvantageous in the third measure. The MPA is advantageous in the fourth measure, with a low migration rate. The MPA is disadvantageous in the fifth measure.     

Complete nucleotide sequence of a cDNA encoding a myosin heavy chain from mantle tissue of scallop Patinopecten yessoensis

ABSTRACT: It has been reported that the amino acid sequences of striated and catch muscle myosin heavy chains from two scallop species ( Argopecten irradians and Placopecten magellanicus ) are almost identical, but that the ATPase activities between these myosins vary several-fold. These myosin sequences have been useful for identifying the region that modulates the ATPase activity of scallop myosin. In the present study, a cDNA encoding a myosin heavy chain was isolated from the mantle tissue of scallop Patinopecten yessoensis . The cDNA is composed of 6067 base pairs (bp) including an open-reading frame of 5841 p, which encodes an amino acid sequence of 1947 residues. The deduced amino acid sequence of P. yessoensis mantle myosin had a high identity of 90%, 92%, and 91% to P. magellanicus , A. irradians , and Pecten maximus striated muscle myosins, respectively. Interestingly, while the deduced amino acid sequences of around adenosine triphosphate-binding and actin-binding sites of the mantle myosin are homologous to those of A. irradians striated muscle myosin, the subfragment 2 hinge region and the non-helical tail region are similar to those of catch muscle myosin.