WHILE VISITING Rabaul, New Britain, during Cruise 6 of the Stanford University vessel "Te Vega" we observed and collected specimens of a small gobioid fish that swam and hovered vertically, with its head up, in midwater close to pockets in the wall of an underwater cliff at depths below 30 feet. Many kinds of fishes, for example scorpaenids and cottoids, are known to orient vertically in contac...

Even in areas as remote the Southern Ocean, marine organisms are exposed to contaminants that arrive through long-range atmospheric transport, such mercury (Hg), a highly toxic metal. In previous studies inter-specific differences Hg contamination seabirds was generally related their distribution and trophic position. However, Blue Petrel ( Halobaena caerulea ) notable exception among small sea...

The poorly known winter foraging ecology of the king penguin, a major Southern Ocean consumer, was investigated at the subantarctic Crozet Islands where the largest global population breeds. Blood δ13C and δ15N values were used as proxies of the birds' foraging habitat and diet, respectively, and circulating prolactin levels helped in determining the birds' reproductive status. Plasma prolactin...

Micronekton abundance, biomass, and community composition was determined from 58 Cobb trawl samples taken from 2005 to 2008 at several locations in the lee of the Hawaiian Islands. The results indicated a strong influence of the lunar illumination on micronekton abundance and biomass. This effect was evident in shallow night tows and probably was the result of lunar light affecting the nighttim...

Recently, a number of Antarctic marine environmental studies have used oceanographic parameters collected from instrumented top predators for ecological and physical information. Phytoplankton concentration is generally quantified through active measurement of chlorophyll fluorescence. In this study, light absorption coefficient (K(0.75)) was used as an indicator of phytoplankton concentration....

Lanternfishes are one of the most abundant groups of mesopelagic fishes in the world's oceans and play a critical role in biomass vertical turnover. Despite their importance, very little is known about their physiology or how they use their sensory systems to survive in the extreme conditions of the deep sea. In this study, we provide a comprehensive description of the general morphology of the...

We combined conventional dietary sampling (2002) with stable isotope analysis of nitrogen (δ15N) and carbon (δ13C) in feathers of Leach’s storm-petrels Oceanodroma leucorhoa (2001 and 2002) to investigate temporal, sexand age-related variation in diet and trophic position, at Baccalieu Island, Newfoundland, Canada. Nestlings are fed mainly fish and crustaceans (ca. 90 and 9% by mass, respective...

Biomagnification of mercury (Hg) in the Scotia Sea food web Southern Ocean was examined using stable isotope ratios nitrogen (?15N) and carbon (?13C) as proxies for trophic level feeding habitat, respectively. Total Hg isotopes were measured samples particulate organic matter (POM), zooplankton, squid, myctophid fish, notothenioid fish seabird tissues collected two years (austral summers 2007/0...