ALBERT

Description: Cephalopod remains were collected from all of 12 dead Emperor penguin chicks [Aptenodytes forsteri (Gray)], from 76% of 29 living adult Emperor penguins, and from 18% of 105 living adult Adelie penguins [Pygoscelis adeliae (Hombron & Jacquinot)] from Adelie Land, Antarctica, in 1982. Of the seven species of squids represented by lower beaks, Psychroteuthis glacialis comprised 88% of the number in both Emperor chicks and Emperor adults and 100% in Adelie adults. From estimates of the weight of squids represented by lower beaks, Gonatus antarcticus and Kondakovia longimana contributed 18 and 14%, respectively, of the weight of squids in the diet of Emperor chicks and 27 and 21%, respectively, in the diet of Emperor adults. The data suggest that Psychroteuthis glacialis probably hatch in July–September and grow steadily for one year, and then spawn and die.

Description: The Pantelleria Rift system is a wide zone of post-Miocene northwest-trending grabens and horsts beneath the Sicily Strait. The central grabens host volcanics of predominantly alkalic composition which are exposed on the islands of Pantelleria and Linosa. On the Maltese Islands, along the northeastern shoulder of the rift, an Oligocene-Miocene carbonate succession exposed above sea level allows structural analysis and determination of shallow crustal stresses within the otherwise largely submarine rift system. An older northeast-trending set of normal faults is probably the expression of an Oligocene-Miocene crustal extension event which produced continental rifts in western Europe and led to passive margin formation in the western Mediterranean. Younger northwest-trending grabens of the Pantelleria Rift system cut the older faults almost at right angles and define a zone of lithospheric stretching between Tunisia and Sicily. The northwest-trending grabens which subsided dramatically since the beginning of Pliocene time appear to be connected by east-trending dextral and, more rarely, north-trending sinistral transforms. Displacement along the transforms is probably in the order of a few kilometres. In-situ stress measurements carried out on the Maltese Islands show maximum horizontal compression (SH) parallel to the rift. This suggests that in general σ1 (vertical) and σ2 (horizontal and parallel to the rift) are of about the same magnitude; both exceed σ3 (Sh) which trends northeasterly. Slight intraplate convergence in a NW-SE direction seems to be more than balanced by extension in a NE-SW direction. Neotectonics of the region possibly reflects an asthenospheric flow pattern which became established during the Messinian salinity crisis. The mechanism of recent intraplate deformation of the Pelagian shelf has relevance for the understanding of more anciently subsided platforms of the Apulian Plate.

Description: The fur seal, Arctocephalus gazella, population at Mossman Peninsula (Laurie Island) was studied from 1985 to 1987. Weekly counts were carried out at a 4 km bachelor haul-out beach from December through June. Maxima of 2 240, 2 787 and 5 196 juvenile and adult males were counted during March of the respective years. Census data indicate an increase in the non-breeding population of 13.5% between 1985–1986 and 46.5% between 1986–1987.

Description: In the Antarctic there are large unexploited stocks of cephalopods with high potential commercial value and there are two important fisheries for squid in the cool temperate waters of the Southern Ocean, adjacent to the Antarctic, in the Atlantic and Pacific sectors. Squid fisheries can develop very rapidly, and if this were to happen in the Antarctic before adequate management plans could be established, there would be serious consequences for the squid stocks, and also for the vertebrate predator populations which depend on them. It is especially important to increase our knowledge of the Antarctic cephalopod species, their distribution and role in the food chain, and to understand their life cycles

Description: At ODP Site 661 from the continental margin of Northwest Africa, authigenic clinoptilolites were investigated in detail. Based on chemical data, crystal size and shape and their intergrowth with associated mineral phases, two types of clinoptilolite (type A and B) occur representing different diagenetic conditions under which the formation of zeolites took place. Clinoptilolite type A was found in a sediment section comprises numerous hiatuses and stratigraphically condensed sediments and could have been formed during early diagenesis. In contrast, clinoptilolite type B was precipitated in Campanian sediments during later diagenesis, after the transformation from opal-A to opal-CT had taken place. At Site 661, the silica source for the authigenesis of both clinoptilolite types is biogenic opal. Volcanic ash material occurs, but in low amounts and thus is not a prerequisite for the formation of clinoptilolite at Site 661.

Description: Many cephalopods have lines of ciliated cells on their head and arms. In the cuttlefish Sepia and the squid Lolliguncula, electrophysiological recordings clearly identify these epidermal lines as an invertebrate analogue to the mechanoreceptive lateral lines of fish and aquatic amphibians and thus as another example of convergent evolution between a sophisticated cephalopod and vertebrate sensory system. Stimulation of the epidermal lines with local water displacements, generated by a vibrating sphere, causes receptor potentials that have many features known from lateral line microphonic potentials. The minimal threshold of the head lines is 0.2 micron peak-to-peak water displacement (calculated at the skin surface) at 75-100 Hz.

Description: A culture of juvenile Sepia officinalis L. was kept during summer 1985 in the aquaria of the “Station Marine”, Wimereux, France. During the first four months of juvenile development, oxygen consumption under increasing hypoxia was measured with a closed respirometer. The experiments revealed a high regulatory capacity of juvenile S. officinalis. The critical oxygen concentrations were calculated and their ontogenetical evolution was studied. The critical oxygen concentration increased with increasing development. A linear relationship emerged between the critical oxygen concentration and the logarithm of the wet weight [COc (mg O2 l-1)=-0.393+0.893×log10(Ww)]. The decreasing regulatory capacity of growing S. officinalis is most probably related to adaptations to a changing ecological environment during development. Another possibility is a physiological change, most probably related to the shift from embryonic to adult hemocyanin.

Description: Microheterotrophic dissolved free amino acid (DFAA) utilization, and microbial community and bacterial community carbon production and growth were studied using 3H-labeled organics as tracers in marine surface-film and subsurface (10 cm) waters off Baja California in November 1983. DFAA utilization was generally more rapid during the day (0.14 to 0.38 nM h-1) than at night (0.04 to 0.14 nM h-1) in surface-film and subsurface waters, but the percent of utilized amino acid which was respired was always greater during the night (22 to 57%) compared to the day (14 to 18%). Utilization of DFAA-carbon was estimated to range from 0.3 to 5.3 μg C l-1 d-1 for all stations studied. In six of the 8 samples examined, the percentage of microbial carbon accounted for by the bacterial component of the population (1.4 to 5.9%) was strikingly similar to the percentage of microbial carbon production accounted for by bacterial carbon production (1.9 to 5.1%). In all of these six samples, total microbial specific-growth rates and bacterial specific-growth rates were approximately equivalent (0.9 to 2.2 d-1 for the microbial community; 0.7 to 1.9 d-1 for bacteria). The two exceptions were samples apparently influenced by transient flagellate populations migrating into the surface or subsurface waters at night. These observations support the conclusion that surface films contain unique and highly active microbial populations.

Description: During R.R.S. "Discovery" Cruise 100 in the Southern Ocean (1979), 620 specimens of the Antarctic cranchiid squid Galiteuthis glacialis (Chun) were caught in the RMT8 opening-closing net, to the south of the Antarctic Polar Front (APF). The catch was dominated by individuals 〈 20 mm dorsal mantle length (DML) and, apart from two specimens, the rest of the catch was 〈 60 mm DML. Two larger squid (255 mm DML) were both immature and apparently female. The species is concentrated at a depth of 300 to 400 m; there is evidence of ontogenetic spreading and a shift in the modal depth of the population from the 300 to 400 m horizon in daylight to the 200 to 300 m horizon in darkness. The collection confirms the circumpolar distribution of the species and supports previous evidence that it rarely, if ever, occurs to the north of the APF. As in Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, the only other species of cranchiid squid known to occur south of the APF, the early-life phase of G. glacialis is concentrated in the upper zone of the "warm deep water" beneath the Antarctic surface layer where, putatively, there is a zone of enhanced biological activity.