Muscle proteins of the European anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus L. were analyzed using starch gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing on thin polyacrylamide ampholine gel. Twenty-two protein loci were analyzed and polymorphism was found in six of them. Based on genetic-biochemical data, we hypothesize that there are two anchovy subspecies, European and African. The former inhabits the Atlan...

Dynamics of microphytoplankton abundance and diversity in NW Mediterranean Sea during late summer condition (DYNAPROC 2 cruise; September–October 2004) S. Lasternas, A. Tunin-Ley, F. Ibañez, V. Andersen, M.-D. Pizay, and R. Lemée Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris6, Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche, 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer, France CNRS, INSU, Marine Microbial Ecology Group, La...

The present study deals with the implementation of an eddy resolving model of the Levantine and Aegean basins and its one-way nesting with a coarse resolution (1/8× 1/8) global Mediterranean general circulation model. The modelling effort is done within the framework of the Mediterranean Forecasting System Pilot Project as an initiative towards real-time forecasting within the eastern Mediterra...

Members of the oyster family Chamidae are common in Indo-Pacific subtidal habitats, adhering to the sides of rocks, where they are usually well hidden by a fine growth of algae that extends equally over the rocks and the oyster shells (Purchon 1968). Chamidae species are known for their efficient filter-feeding abilities and thus may compete with other benthic filter-feeders for both space and ...

[1] The present-day availability of an 18 year record of 1=8 merged Mediterranean Sea sea level anomaly (SLA) data enables a contemporary description of long-term mesoscale activity in the Balearic Sea. SLA data from satellite altimetry are used to study the variability of sea level and surface geostrophic circulation at different spatial and temporal scales within this complex and relatively u...

In the Mediterranean Sea hard-bottom macroalgal meadows may switch to alternative and less-productive barrens grounds, as a result of sea urchins overgrazing. Meiofauna (and especially nematodes) represent key components of benthic ecosystems, are highly-diversified, sensitive to environmental change and anthropogenic impacts, but, so-far, have been neglected in studies on regime shifts. We rep...

This study describes a new model implementation for the Mediterranean Sea with what is currently the highest vertical resolution over the Mediterranean basin. The resolution is of 1/16×1/16 in the horizontal and has 72 unevenly spaced vertical levels. This model has been developed in the frame of the EU-MFSTEP project and is the operational forecast model currently used at the basin scale. The ...

Restriction-site analyses of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) reveal substantial phylogeographic structure among major nesting populations in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans and the Mediterranean sea. Based on 176 samples from eight nesting populations, most breeding colonies were distinguished from other assayed nesting locations by diagnostic...

Alkenone unsaturation ratios and planktonic d18O records from sediment cores of the Alboran, Ionian and Levantine basins in the Mediterranean Sea show pronounced variations in paleo-temperatures and -salinities of surface waters over the last 16,000 years. Average sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are low during the last glacial (averages prior to 13,000 years: 11–15°C), vary rapidly at the begin...