Bivalve larvae and hydrographic parameters were sampled over a range of spatio-temporal scales in a deep atoll lagoon. Bivalve larvae abundances were very high throughout the year: 18,550 m(-3) in average. Larvae were (i) concentrated at mid-depth with nocturnal ascent and diurnal descent, (ii) heterogeneously dispersed at the lagoon scale, (iii) subject to day-to-day variation in abundance and...

Mineralization is a typical strategy used in natural materials to achieve high stiffness and hardness for structural functions such as skeletal support, protection or predation. High mineral content generally leads to brittleness, yet natural materials such as bone, mollusk shells or glass sponge achieve relatively high toughness considering the weakness of their constituents through intricate ...

We demonstrate that the ability to manipulate the polarization of synchrotron radiation can be exploited to enhance the capabilities of X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy, to include linear dichroism effects. By acquiring spectra at the same photon energies but different polarizations, and using a photoelectron emission spectromicroscope (PEEM), one can quantitatively det...

Biominerals are highly ordered crystals mediated by organic matters especially proteins in organisms. However, how specific proteins are distributed inside biominerals are not well understood. In the present study, we use fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) to label extracted proteins from the shells of bivalve Pinctada fucata. By confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), we observe a heterogene...

The pearl industry in French Polynesia is based on exploitation of natural stocks of the blacklip pearl oyster (Pinctada margaritifera). It generates an annual turnover of €90 million. Improvements in pearl quality need genetic studies to improve the populations. This pearl oyster is a protandric species, in which the sex ratio normally is biased toward males. There is an increasing interest in...

Genetic linkage maps were constructed with ampli¢ed fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and microsatellite markers for the pearl oyster, Pinctada martensii (Dunker), the main bivalve used for marine pearl production in Asia. Twenty-four AFLP and 84 microsatellite primer pairs were used for linkage analysis in a full-sib family with two parents and 78 o¡spring. Of the 2357 AFLP fragments generat...

Mikroplastikler 1µm ile 5mm boyutlarındaki polimer parçaları olarak adlandırılır. Son yıllarda deniz ortamında yaygınlaşan etkili kirleticiler haline gelmiştir. Mikroplastik kirliliği ekosistemindeki hemen her canlı türü içerisinde tespit edilmeye başlamıştır. Özellikle besinlerini filtrasyon yolu alan çift kabuklu canlılar bünyelerine mikroplastik almak zorunda kalmışlardır. Bu çalışma Çeşme I...

Pearl culture industry represents one of the dominant business sector of French Polynesia. However, it still entirely relies on unpredictable spat collection success. Our aim was to assess the influence of natural plankton concentration fluctuations on maturation and spawning of the black lip pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera, during a 4 months survey conducted in Ahe atoll lagoon. Plankton c...