the success of biological invaders is often attributed to escape from specialist enemies in their natural range, such as predators and parasites. For enemy escape to have direct consequences in competitive interactions, invaders need to be less vulnerable to enemies than native competitors in the region they invade, but first the presence of these enemies must be established. We investigated th...

Fifteen years after the first capture of a specimen Charybdis japonica in Adriatic Sea, we report collection two more specimens near port Ravenna. This swimming crab, native from North Western Pacific, has already proved its invasive capacity New Zealand coastal waters. Its possible establishment northern lagoons may represent treat for local Manila clam fishery and aquaculture activities.

Just as mating patterns can promote speciation or hybridization, the presence of hybridization can shape mating patterns within a population. In this study, we characterized patterns of multiple mating and reproductive skew in a naturally hybridizing swordtail fish species, Xiphophorus birchmanni. We quantified multiple mating using microsatellite markers to genotype embryos from 43 females col...

In poeciliid fish the male anal fin has been transformed into a gonopodium, an intromittent organ required for internal fertilization. Elevated testosterone levels induce metamorphosis of a subset of anal fin rays to grow and form the specialized terminal structures of the gonopodium. The molecular mechanisms underlying these processes are largely unknown. Here, we investigated whether retinoic...

According to ancient Greek myth, the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Calabria in southern Italy is home to Charybdis, a sea monster capable of bringing down the toughest ships by swallowing them whole. Of course, there was no monster and both ship and sailor fell victim to a whirlpool, an aquatic vortex resulting from a recirculating flow produced by the interaction of opposing currents. D...