A survey was carried out on the prevalence of bacteria and ciliate protozoan of Pellaells indiclls obtained from Ennore estuary, Chennai (Madras), India from November 1989 to July 1992. The study r~vealed the occurrence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus, V. VUlllijiCUS, V. harvey;, V. allguillarum, V. damsela, Pseudomollas sp., P. aemgillo.\'{/ and a tilamentous bacterium Leucothrix sp. This study als...

Crustaceans can exert a greater force using their claws than many animals can with other appendages. Furthermore, in decapods, the chela is a notable organ with multifunctional roles. The coconut crab, Birgus latro, is the largest terrestrial crustacean and has a remarkable ability to lift weights up to approximately 30 kg. However, the pinching force of this crab's chelae has not been previous...

A phylogeny of the arthropods was inferred from analyses of amino acid sequences derived from the nuclear genes encoding elongation factor-1 alpha and the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II using maximum-parsimony, neighbor-joining, and maximum-likelihood methods. Analyses of elongation factor-1 alpha from 17 arthropods and 4 outgroup taxa recovered many arthropod clades supported by previous...

The analogy between the transport of oxygen by hemoglobin in the vertebrate blood and by the hemocyanins of the invertebrate body fluids is clearly established. While it is known that in the former case oxygen combines with the respiratory protein in definite stoichiometrical proportions-l molecule of Oa uniting with hemoglobin in correspondence with each atom of iron which it contains (Peters,...

In Toulon Bay (France), very high phosphatase activities have been found in the zooplankton fraction>90 microm. This work was intended to specify their origin. For that purpose, larvae, juvenile and adult Crustacea (Copepods: Calanoids, Cyclopoids, Branchiopods: Cladocera, and Cirripeds) were isolated. Their activities were measured using paranitrophenyl phosphate dissolved in sea water in orde...

Precopulatory guarding in Crustacea is usually analyzed as a male decision problem. We suggest an alternative possibility that precopula is established as a result of intersexual conflict over precopula duration. Such a conflict can be expected when the male optimum for precopula duration exceeds the female optimum. As a result, males should start precopulatory attempts earlier, while females s...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the zooplankton community at six reservoirs in the state of Pernambuco (Brazil). Zooplankton assemblages were identified using current literature and quantitatively analysed under a microscope and stereomicroscope. Concurrently to the sampling of zooplanktonic and phytoplanktonic communities, in situ measurements of abiotic variables, such as wate...

The freshwater shrimp Neocaridina heteropoda (Crustacea, Malacostraca, Decapoda) originates from Asia and is one of the species that is widely available all over the world because it is the most popular shrimp that is bred in aquaria. The structure and the ultrastructure of the midgut have been described using X-ray microtomography, transmission electron microscopy, light and fluorescence micro...

The complete 18S rDNA gene sequence of Macrobiotus group hufelandi (Tardigrada) was obtained and aligned with 18S rDNA and rRNA gene sequences of 24 metazoans (mainly protostomes). Discrete character (maximum-parsimony) and distance (neighbor-joining) methods were used to infer their phylogeny. The evolution of bootstrap proportions with sequence length (pattern of resolved nodes, PRN) was stud...