Methanolic and chloroform-methanol extracts of 25 identified species of marine fauna have been screened for a wide range of biological activities. Of these, 2 extracts exhibited diuretic activity, while antibacterial, antiviral, oxytocic and spasmolytic activities, were observed in 1 extract each.

In sexually reproducing organisms, conflicts of interest among family members are inevitable. The intensity of these conflicts depends upon the opportunities for parents and offspring to interact and the level of promiscuity. Despite the acknowledged role of family conflict in the evolutionary ecology of terrestrial organisms, its influence in the marine realm has largely been ignored. Neverthe...

Light-stick is a light attractor used in longline fishing which is often dumped or lost into the ocean after used, becoming a potential pollutant to marine organisms. In the present study, toxicity was evaluated by exposing Artemia to light-stick contents. The effects were observed on the survival of nauplii and hatchability of cysts. The LC50 was 0.063mLL−1 after 24h of exposure, whilst hatcha...

Defining the scale of connectivity, or exchange, among marine populations and determining the factors driving this exchange are pivotal to our understanding of the population dynamics, genetic structure, and biogeography of many coastal species. Using a high-resolution biophysical model for the Caribbean region, we report that typical larval dispersal distances of ecologically relevant magnitud...

In contrast with speciation in terrestrial organisms, marine plankton frequently display gradual morphological change without lineage division (e.g., phyletic gradualism or gradual evolution), which has raised the possibility that a different mode of evolution dominates within pelagic environments. Here, we reexamine a classic case of putative gradual evolution within the Globorotalia plesiotum...

Investigators are researching whether consumption of plastic debris by marine organisms translates into toxic exposures for people who eat seafood.

Which populations are replenished primarily by immigrants (open) and which by local production (closed) remains an important question for management with implications for response to exploitation, protection, and disturbance. However, we lack methods for predicting population openness. Here, we develop a model for openness and show that considering habitat isolation explains the existence of su...

The average concentrations of TBT ngSng were found as 235 in fish, 116 in mussels and 635 in barnacles. All mussels sampled showed values of TBT+DBT, which were below the "tolerable average residue level (TARL)" as currently accepted. Barnacles have high potential as biomonitors for the presence of organotin in the Aegean Sea.

Recently, the studies on the prevention and treatment of human papillomavirus (HPV) which is closely related to the cervical cancer and other genital diseases are attracting more and more attention all over the world. Marine-derived polysaccharides and other bioactive compounds have been shown to possess a variety of anti-HPV and related cancer activities. This paper will review the recent prog...

The in vitro fate of the saturated hydrocarbon fraction (SF) of Arabian Light crude oil has been studied in PVC cores filled with a coastal marine sediment defaunated by sieving. Experiments were conducted in absence or presence of polychaetes Nereis diversicolor. The luminophore tracer technique was used to quantify the mixing of sediment by worms. Presence of crude oil reduced the building of...