In 2009, a systemic megalocytivirus infection associated with high mortality was detected for the first time in cultured starry flounder Platichthys stellatus in Korea. Diseased starry flounder had pale bodies and gill coloring and enlarged spleens. Histopathological examinations revealed basophilic enlarged cells in various organs of diseased starry flounder. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) wa...

Acipenseriformes are composed of 25 sturgeon species and two paddlefish species distributed exclusively in the northern hemisphere. The Danube River and the Black Sea were originally inhabited by six sturgeon species but two are extinct and only four are still reproducing currently in the Lower Danube: Huso huso, Acipenser stellatus, A. gueldenstaedtii and A. ruthenus. Sturgeon species hybridiz...

Endemic Ponto-Caspian gobies include a flock of 24 "neogobiin" species (containing the nominal genera and subgenera Apollonia, Babka, Neogobius, Mesogobius, Ponticola, and Proterorhinus; Teleostei: Gobiidae), of which a large proportion (5 species; 21%) recently escaped to invade other freshwater Eurasian systems and the North American Great Lakes. We provide its first comprehensive phylogeneti...

The physico-chemical properties of spray-dried pitaya peel powders kept at accelerated (45 ± 2°C) and room temperature (28 ± 2°C) for 14 weeks and 6 months, respectively were evaluated. Changes in physico-chemical properties of the peel powder were used as indicators of stability, while changes of the betacyanin pigment retention was used to calculate the shelf-life of the powder. Storage tempe...

The D-optimal mixture experimental design was employed to optimize the melting point of natural lipstick based on pitaya (Hylocereus polyrhizus) seed oil. The influence of the main lipstick components-pitaya seed oil (10%-25% w/w), virgin coconut oil (25%-45% w/w), beeswax (5%-25% w/w), candelilla wax (1%-5% w/w) and carnauba wax (1%-5% w/w)-were investigated with respect to the melting point p...

Pitaya is one of the most important commercial cactus fruit. Pitaya fruits are easy to get injury during postharvest handling and storage. Pre-harvest and postharvest calcium treatments have been used to maintain flesh firmness and extend shelf life of many fruits. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of calcium treatments on maintaining pitaya fruit quality during cold storage. Pi...