Search results for "Fishes"
showing 10 items of 319 documents
Fish-seastar facilitation leads to algal forest restoration on protected rocky reefs
2015
AbstractAlthough protected areas can lead to recovery of overharvested species, it is much less clear whether the return of certain predator species or a diversity of predator species can lead to re-establishment of important top-down forces that regulate whole ecosystems. Here we report that the algal recovery in a Mediterranean Marine Protected Area did not derive from the increase in the traditional strong predators, but rather from the establishment of a previously unknown interaction between the thermophilic fish Thalassoma pavo and the seastar Marthasterias glacialis. The interaction resulted in elevated predation rates on sea urchins responsible for algal overgrazing. Manipulative ex…
Ventastega curonica and the origin of tetrapod morphology.
2008
The gap in our understanding of the evolutionary transition from fish to tetrapod is beginning to close thanks to the discovery of new intermediate forms such as Tiktaalik roseae. Here we narrow it further by presenting the skull, exceptionally preserved braincase, shoulder girdle and partial pelvis of Ventastega curonica from the Late Devonian of Latvia, a transitional intermediate form between the 'elpistostegids' Panderichthys and Tiktaalik and the Devonian tetrapods (limbed vertebrates) Acanthostega and Ichthyostega. Ventastega is the most primitive Devonian tetrapod represented by extensive remains, and casts light on a part of the phylogeny otherwise only represented by fragmentary ta…
Determination of organophosphate flame retardants in soil and fish using ultrasound-assisted extraction, solid-phase clean-up, and liquid chromatogra…
2017
A solid–liquid extraction method in combination with high‐performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry was developed and optimized for extraction and analysis of organophosphorus flame retardants in soil and fish. Methanol was chosen as the optimum extraction solvent, not only in terms of extraction efficiency, but also for its broader analyte coverage. The subsequent clean‐up by solid‐phase extraction is required to eliminate matrix coextractives and reduce matrix effects. Recoveries of the optimized method were 50–121% for soil and 47–123% for biota, both with high precision (RSDs <12% in soil and <23% in biota). The method limits of detection ranged from 0.06 to 0.20 ng…
Description, microhabitat selection and infection patterns of sealworm larvae (Pseudoterranova decipiens species complex, nematoda: ascaridoidea) in …
2013
Third-stage larvae of the Pseudoterranova decipiens species complex (also known as sealworms) have been reported in at least 40 marine fish species belonging to 21 families and 10 orders along the South American coast. Sealworms are a cause for concern because they can infect humans who consume raw or undercooked fish. However, despite their economic and zoonotic importance, morphological and molecular characterization of species of Pseudoterranova in South America is still scarce. Methods: A total of 542 individual fish from 20 species from the Patagonian coast of Argentina were examined for sealworms. The body cavity, the muscles, internal organs, and the mesenteries were examined to dete…
Determination of macrolide antibiotics in meat and fish using pressurized liquid extraction and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry
2008
We developed a method for determining the quantities of seven macrolide antibiotics in meat and fish by using pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization (LC-(ESI)MS). The PLE was optimized with regard to solvents, temperature, pressure, extraction time and number of cycles. The optimum conditions were: methanol as the extraction solvent; a temperature of 80 degrees C; a pressure of 1500psi; an extraction time of 15min; 2 cycles; a flush volume of 150% and a purge time of 300s. All recoveries for macrolide antibiotics were over 77% at 200mug/kg, except for erythromycin, which was 58%. The repeatability and reproducibility on d…
Consistent isotopic differences between Schistocephalus spp. parasites and their stickleback hosts
2015
Published version available at http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/dao02893 Parasite−host systems show markedly variable patterns in isotopic fractionation: parasites can be either depleted or enriched in 15N and 13C as compared to their hosts. However, it remains unknown whether isotopic fractionation patterns are similar in comparable parasite−host systems from markedly different ecosystems. Results of this study show that large-sized Schistocephalus spp. endoparasites are consistently depleted in 15N (by on average −2.13 to −2.20‰) as compared to their nine-spined stickleback Pungitius pungitius and three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus hosts. The differences between parasites and host f…
Prevalence of bacteria and absence of anisakid parasites in raw and prepared fish and seafood dishes in Spanish restaurants
2015
This study evaluated the presence of bacteria and anisakid parasites in 45 samples of raw anchovies in vinegar, a dish widely eaten in Spain, and in 227 samples of cooked fish and cephalopods served in Spanish food service establishments. Our analysis showed that, according to European and Spanish regulation, 14 to 30% of the prepared fish and cephalopod dishes exceeded the maximum allowable level for mesophilic aerobic counts, and 10 to 40% of these samples exceeded the allowable levels for Enterobacteriaceae. None of the studied samples showed evidence of anisakid parasites, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, or Listeria monocyto genes. These results indicate that applic…
Systematics of European coastal anchovies (genus Engraulis Cuvier).
2021
Reports of morphological differences between European anchovy (Engraulis cf. encrasicolus) from coastal and marine habitats have long existed in the ichthyologic literature, and have given rise to a long-standing debate on their taxonomic status. More recently, molecular studies have confirmed the existence of genetic differentiation between the two anchovy ecotypes. Using ancestry-informative markers, we show that coastal anchovies throughout the Mediterranean share a common ancestry, and that substantial genetic differentiation persists in different pairs of coastal/marine populations despite the presence of limited gene flow. On the basis of genetic and ecological arguments, we propose t…
Agouti-Related Proteins (AGRPs) and Agouti-Signaling Peptide (ASIP) in Fish and Chicken
2005
We performed an intensive search on sequence databases to identify orthologues of ASIP and AGRP peptides in a number of different species, revealing a number of genomic fragments coding for the C-terminal part of agouti-related motifs, different from annotated peptide sequences, including one fragment from chicken, two from zebrafish, two from Fugu (Takifugu rubripes), and three from Tetraodon (Tetraodon nigroviridis). We have thus shown for the first time that both AGRP and ASIP genes exist in many species in "lower vertebrates" and were most probably present in early stages of vertebrate evolution.
Natural occurrence of emerging Fusarium mycotoxins in feed and fish from aquaculture.
2014
A new analytical method for the simultaneous determination of enniatins (ENs) and beauvericin (BEA) in fish feed and fish tissues by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry with linear ion trap (LC-MS/MS-LIT) was developed. Results showed that the developed method is precise and sensitive. The presence of emerging Fusarium mycotoxins, ENs and BEA, was determined in samples of aquaculture fish and feed for farmed fish, showing that all feed samples analyzed were contaminated with mycotoxins, with 100% coexistence. In aquacultured fish samples, the highest incidence was found in edible muscle and liver. As for the exposure assessment calculated, it was found that average consumer i…