Oocyte and ovarian development, growth, and maturation have been described in many gonochoric fish: in the swordfish (Xiphias gladitus) by Arocha (2002), striped bass (Morone saxatilis) by Mylonas et al. (1997), carp (Cyprinus carpio) by Linhart et al. (1995), zebrafish (Brachydanio rerio) by Selman et al. (1993), pipefish (Syngnathus scovelli) by Begovac et al. (1988), red sea bream (Pagrus ma...

continuous and lengthy droughts in previous years not only in the southern provinces of iran but also in the whole country necessitate optimized water management. indian ocean and adjacent seas in south of iran are suppliers of part of the humidity in the region and the variation on indian ocean sea surface temperature has an important role in evaporation from oceans and input humidity into atm...

Four new species of Thysanophrys are described from the Western Indian Ocean (WIO). T. rarita, known from a single specimen taken off Somalia, is provisionally placed in Thysanophrys and is distinguished by its color pattern and number of preocular and suborbital spines. T. tricaudata is described from three specimens taken at SCUBA stations off southwestern Sri Lanka. They differ from other we...

Atmospheric P solubility affects the amount of P available for phytoplankton in the surface ocean, yet our understanding of the timing and extent of atmospheric P solubility is based on short-term leaching experiments where conditions may differ substantially from the surface ocean. We conducted longer- term dissolution experiments of atmospheric aerosols in filtered seawater, and found up to 9...

Three new species of calcareous sponges from the coast of Bahia State, NE Brazil are described. All of them belong to the genus Paraleucilla (Calcaronea, Leucosolenida, Amphoriscidae): P. solangeae sp. nov., P. oca sp. nov., and P. incomposita sp. nov. The number of species recorded from the Bahia coast has thus increased from 10 to 13. Including these new species, there are now 50 calcareous s...

Four species of the fish genus Pempheris are recognized for the Red Sea: P. adusta Bleeker, 1877; P. mangula Cuvier, 1829; P. nesogallica Cuvier in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1831; and a new species P. tominagai. All are wide-ranging in the western Indian Ocean, and P. mangula has migrated via the Suez Canal to the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Morphological and genetic analysis of 15 species in this ...

Sea surface temperature (SST) across much of the tropics has increased by 0.4 degrees to 1 degrees C since the mid-1970s. A parallel increase in the frequency and extent of coral bleaching and mortality has fueled concern that climate change poses a major threat to the survival of coral reef ecosystems worldwide. Here we show that steadily rising SSTs, not ocean acidification, are already drivi...

The red coral Corallium rubrum is a habitat-forming species with a prominent and structural role in mesophotic habitats, which sustains biodiversity hotspots. This precious coral is threatened by both over-exploitation and temperature driven mass mortality events. We report here that biocalcification, growth rates and polyps' (feeding) activity of Corallium rubrum are significantly reduced at p...

An important factor for predicting the effect of increased CO2 on future acidification ocean is a proper understanding interactions controlling production and dissolution calcium carbonate minerals (CaCO3). The CaCO3 in can be assessed over large spatial scales by measuring seawater concentrations total alkalinity (AT), yet past studies suggest that there could discrepancies between AT-based ba...

The application of nano-structured compounds has been increasing rapidly in recent years, in several fields. The use of engineered nano-materials as carriers of antifouling compounds is just beginning and already reveals clear advantages compared to bulk active compounds, such as slowed and controlled release, novel functionality, and high loading capacity. This present study assesses the antif...