Brown ring disease (BRD) causes high mortalities in the introduced Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum cultured in western Europe. The etiological agent of BRD, Vibrio tapetis, adheres to and disrupts the production of the periostracal lamina, causing the anomalous deposition of periostracum around the inner shell. Because the primary sign of BRD is found outside the soft tissues, the processes...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to analyze biomechanical properties of a novel wedge locking plate in medial open wedge high tibial osteotomy (OWHTO) in a porcine tibial model. METHODS A uniform 8-mm OWHTO was performed in 12 porcine tibiae. Six of them were subsequently fixed with the plate without a wedge, whereas the other 6 were additionally reinforced with a metal wedge of 8 mm....

Recent studies have documented strong, top-down predation effects of sea ducks on mussel populations in rocky intertidal communities. However, the impact of these gregarious predators in soft-bottom communities has been largely unexplored. We evaluated effects of predation by wintering surf scoters Melanitta perspicillata and white-winged scoters M. fusca on clam populations in soft-bottom inte...

Background: The clam Tivela mactroides is an important sandy-beach resource along the western Atlantic coast, and is widely harvested by both tourists and residents for recreational, subsistence and/or economic purposes. These clams are intensively exploited in Caraguatatuba Bay on the southeastern Brazilian coast. Similarly to most coastal areas around the world, this bay is subject to a varie...

− Laboratory radiotracer experiments were conducted to determine assimilation efficiencies (AE) from ingested algal food and oxic sediment particles, uptake rates from the dissolved phase, and the efflux rates of Cd, Cr and Zn in the Asiatic clam Corbicula fluminea. Among three elements, AE from both algal and sediment food was greatest for Cd, followed by Zn and Cr. The AEs of tested elements ...

polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (pahs) are a major group of organic contaminants which are consisted of two or more benzene rings. many of these compounds are potentially toxic and many studies have been carried out to investigate their toxicity in pahs exposed people. the bushehr coastal area is very important place for oil exploration, exploitation and transportation in north persian gulf. i...

Locomotion of infaunal bivalve mollusks primarily consists of vertical movements related to burrowing; horizontal movements have only been reported for a few species. Here, we characterize hard clam walking: active horizontal locomotion of adults (up to 118 mm shell length, SL) of the commercially important species, Mercenaria mercenaria, at the sediment surface-a behavior only briefly noted in...

Vesicomyidae clams harbor sulfide-oxidizing endosymbionts and are typical members of cold seep communities where active venting of fluids and gases takes place. We investigated the central biogeochemical processes that supported a vesicomyid clam colony as part of a locally restricted seep community in the Japan Trench at 5346 m water depth, one of the deepest seep settings studied to date. An ...

In general, hypoxia (<2 mg O2 l–1) is detrimental to marine food webs because of faunal declines associated with persistent, severely low oxygen. However, transfer of benthic production to higher trophic levels could be facilitated under hypoxia if infauna migrate to shallower burial depths, increasing their availability to predators. A series of outdoor mesocosm and laboratory experiments were...