The Litophyton species of the Red Sea and the western Indian Ocean are revised, which includes species previously belonging to the genus Nephthea, which is synonymized with Litophyton. A neotype for both Litophyton arboreum, the type species of Litophyton, and Nephthea chabrolii, the type species of Nephthea, are designated. The new species Litophyton curvum sp. n. is described and depicted, an...

High solar radiation along with extreme transparency leads to high penetration of solar radiation in the Red Sea, potentially harmful to biota inhabiting the upper water column, including zooplankton. Here we show, based on experimental assessments of solar radiation dose-mortality curves on eight common taxa, the mortality of zooplankton in the oligotrophic waters of the Red Sea to increase st...

Nowhere on the present-day Earth can the transition from a continental to an oceanic rift be observed and studied better than in the Red Sea region, where three rifts in different stages of evolution meet in a triple point located in the Afar region. A thermal and/or compositional mantle plume may have risen from the upper mantle below Afar already at *30 Ma, and may have triggered, at least in...

Compilation of a checklist of Recent thecideoid brachiopods from the Indian Ocean and Red Sea indicates that members of this superfamily are represented by a small number of species. The subfamily Lacazellinae is represented by Ospreyella maldiviana from the Maldive Islands but the presence of Lacazella cannot yet be confirmed in the Indian Ocean as the holotype of Lacazella mauritiana from Mau...

the study of tectonic evolution of the tethyan and se asian regions indicates that these tworegions have each passed through southwardly progressing sequences of similar tectonic events. both regionshave experienced a southward island-arc subduction and back-arc spreading leading to continentaldetachment from gondwanaland, with an earlier southward island arc subduction of palaeotethys (tethyan...

Ocean acidification, a decrease in the pH in marine waters associated with rising atmospheric CO2 levels, is a serious threat to marine ecosystems. In this paper, we determine the effects of long-term exposure to near-future levels of ocean acidification on the growth, condition, calcification, and survival of juvenile red king crabs, Paralithodes camtschaticus, and Tanner crabs, Chionoecetes b...

pollutions. recently, both persian gulf and gulf of oman are experiencing several types of pollution including oil spills and heavy metal pollutions as well as harmful algal bloom (hab) caused by biological and environmental changes. theiroccurrence of the red tide or harmful algal bloom during fall and winter 2008-2009 caused numerous unknown factors in the strait of hormuz, persian gulf and g...

A freshwater discharge from a river is a crucial factor to understand water circulation and ecological system near the river mouth due to the changes of seawater density and the nutrient supply for the ocean. Therefore, water pollution such as red tide is strongly dependent upon the amount of water discharged from river and the pathways of them. It is clear that there is a need to understand th...

The present study investigates the genetic diversity of Scarus ghobban, a recently introduced parrotfish in the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal. Two mitochondrial and one nuclear DNA regions were sequenced and phylogenetic relationships investigated, from samples collected from Lebanon and across its natural range. Scarus ghobban clustered in two major clades, Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocea...

We present here results that demonstrate the potential of near-infrared (NIR)–red models to estimate chlorophyll-a (chl-a) concentration in coastal waters using data from the spaceborne Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO). Since the recent demise of the MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS), the use of sensors such as HICO has become critical for coastal ocean color resea...