The length- length (LLRs), length-weight (LWR) relationships and relative condition factor (Kn) of 505 specimens of pike, (Esox lucius Linnaeus, 1798) from Anzali Wetland, southwest of the Caspian Sea, were studied from April 2012 through March 2013. The length-length relationships among total length (TL), fork length (FL) and standard length (SL) for pike were found to be highly significan...

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of terbuthylazine in surface waters on fish under experimental conditions. Subchronic toxic effects on embryos and larvae of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) were investigated during a 30-day toxicity test. The exposure to terbuthylazin showed no effect on mortality, but significant differences (P < 0.0001) were revealed on weight and growth parameter...

Missing data is a common problem in paleontology. It makes it difficult to reconstruct extinct taxa accurately and restrains the inclusion of some taxa on comparative and biomechanical studies. Particularly, estimating the position of vertebrae on incomplete series is often non-empirical and does not allow precise estimation of missing parts. In this work we present a method for calculating the...

Compensatory or 'catch-up' growth may be an adaptive mechanism that buffers the growth trajectory of young organisms from deviations caused by reduced food availability. Theory generally assumes that rapid juvenile compensatory growth impacts reproduction only through its positive effects on age and size at maturation, but potential reproductive costs to juvenile compensatory growth remain virt...

Pectoral fins are one of the major features of locomotor design in ray-finned fishes and exhibit a well-documented phylogenetic transition from basal to derived clades. In percomorph fishes, the pectoral fins are often used to generate propulsive force via oscillatory movements, and pectoral fin propulsion in this relatively derived clade has been analyzed extensively. However, in the plesiomor...

BACKGROUND A quantitative understanding of airway sizes and proportions and a reference point for comparisons are important to a pediatric bronchoscopist. The aims of this study were to measure large airway areas, and define proportions and factors that influence airway size in children. METHODS A validated videobronchoscope technique was used to measure in-vivo airway cross-sectional areas (...

This study was conducted to determine normal rates of growth of different skeletal segments in the thoroughbred horse. Growth of body weight and eight skeletal segments (wither height, hip height, body length, knee to pastern length, hock to pastern length, shoulder to pastern length, width of chest, depth of girth) were monitored in 106 horses (60 colts, 46 fillies) during the period from 14 t...

In order to improve biological control of agricultural pests, it is fundamental to understand which factors influence the composition of natural enemies in agricultural landscapes. In this study, we aimed to understand how agricultural land use affects a number of different traits in ground beetle communities to better predict potential consequences of land-use change for ecosystem functioning....

The ultimobranchial glands of juvenile African lungfish (Protopterus dolloi) (14 individuals; total body length 25-205 mm) were immunohistochemically examined. In individuals larger than 36 mm, one ultimobranchial gland was close to the left afferent branchial arteries. The topography of the ultimobranchial gland was similar to that of salamanders and sharks, but not to teleosts. With body grow...

The objective of this study was to characterize the reproductive cycle of the chameleon goby, T. trigonocephalus. Gonadal development was investigated using a histological method. Specimens were collected monthly, from April 2009 to March 2010. The gonadosomatic index (GSI) of females began to increase in April, reaching the maximum in May, and declined sharply in August. In males, the GSI bega...