ALBERT

Description: Whether the study of external morphology can increase our knowledge of shallow-water octopuses and their biology is tested by multivariate morphometric analyses. The extent of morphological variation among 20 species from the Atlantic and eastern tropical Pacific Oceans is explored, and four hypotheses are addressed: (1) that octopuses show secondary sexual dimorphism; (2) that remote, ostensibly conspecific populations are morphologically distinct; (3) that morphometric characters contribute to resource partitioning among sympatric species; and (4) that morphology is predictably associated with habitat. Results of principal components analysis show most species to be very similar in shape. Arm length contributes most shape variation; other characters contribute little. Principal components and size-free discriminant analyses refute each of the hypotheses considered. The morphological similarity of isolated Atlantic populations may be a symplesiomorphy, but information on the planktonic phase of the octopus lire cycle supports the possibility of dispersal across the Atlantic Ocean. Size, not directly treated here, may significantly affect some aspects of octopus biology. Increased female size may evolve due to selection for increased fecundity and intraspecific niche partitioning. Size may also indicate interaction within and among species. Characters of shape, deemed essential to species descriptions, do not appear to be able to identify most specimens, nor to increase our understanding of octopus biology.

Description: Maturation in the onychoteuthid squid Moroteuthis ingens was found to be irreversible, with death following shortly after sexual maturation and spawning. Both males and females were found with spent gonads. The ovary reaches very large sizes in mature females and probably prevends feeding by constricting the caecum. There was also a marked difference in the tissue with an inelastic, gelantinous appearence. Histological examination of the mantle wall revealed that the tissue breakdown was due to a drastic histolysis of muscle tissue and, to a lesser extent, collagen fibres. Mature males also showed some tissue breakdown and loss of muscle fibres but this was not as dramatic as in the females. These features are considered in relation to processes contributing to terminal maturation in M. ingens.

Description: Growth of the shallow-water gorgonian Lophogorgia ceratophyta was investigated in an infralittoral station located in La Spezia Gulf, Ligurian Sea. Mean annual height growth rate was estimated to be 2.57 cm · a-1. The fractal dimension of the colonies was found to gradually evolve in complexity, exhibiting a simpler branching pattern in younger specimens. The maintenance of a low, invariable ramification complexity as an optimal choice in managing relationships between water and the colony's living tissues is also discussed.

Description: To study the impact of the gradient of primary production between the southern, central, and northern Red Sea, benthic metabolism and standing stocks were investigated in the axial trough between 17°N and 27°N. Data on sediment chloroplastic pigments, macrofauna and meiofauna abundance, particulate adenylate, protein and carbohydrate biomass, as well as electron transport activity of the sediment community give evidence for an enhanced benthic standing stock and activity in the southern Red Sea south of 18°N; this is related to the increased primary productivity in the area south 16°N. Despite a large primary production only small benthic standing stocks were found in all areas investigated; they are much smaller than in other parts of the world's deep oceans with comparable primary production. The low benthic biomass is caused by two factors: a large proportion of particulate organic carbon is remineralized in the water column, while only a relatively small amount sediments to the sea floor; nearly all sedimented particulate organic matter is respired by the benthic community of the deep Red Sea and only a minute proportion is used for the production of benthic biomass.

Description: The diet of King Penguins Aptenodytes patagonica at Possession Island was studied in February 1989 by analysis of 20 stomach contents collected from adult birds, just before they fed their single chicks. The mean mass of the samples was 1.84 kg, equivalent to 15% of the unladen adult body-mass. Fish accounted for 99.8% and squids for 0.2% by mass. The main prey were mesopelagic myctophid fish which live in dense shoals and perform a daily vertical migration. Subadults/adults of Electrona carlsbergi and juveniles and subadults/adults of Krefftichthys anderssoni represented 73.7 and 13.4% of the diet by mass, respectively. No difference was found in the diet of male and female King Penguins. Comparison of individual samples suggests that these birds catch a large quantity of fish from only a limited number of shoals. The mean caloric content of the food was 7 kJ/g wet mass. The total energy requirement of each chick during its initial period of growth was estimated to amount to 328,000 kJ, equivalent to 55 kg of food. The rate at which energy was delivered to the chick was calculated to be 50 W during this period.

Description: In Loligo forbesi Steenstrup, the female reproductive system consists of the ovary and accessory reproductive organs which include the oviducal gland, the nidamental gland, the accessory nidamental gland and seminal receptacle. Histological studies were made on the accessory reproductive organs of female L. forbesi. The various changes observed during maturation are described and the functional significance discussed. The secretions produced by the oviducal gland and nidamental gland apparently form the egg coats. The seminal receptacle serves to store spermatozoa after mating. The function of the accessory nidamental gland is unknown.

Description: The cephalopod fauna collected during six surveys carried out in the bathyal basin of the north-western Mediterranean is discussed. Samples were taken at depths mainly between 1000 and 2000 m. Ten species were identified. Bathypolypus sponsalis and Neorossia caroli were the commonest species. Small individuals of both these species occurred at greater depths than did larger individuals, suggesting up-slope ontogenetic migration. The depth ranges recorded for all species collected are discussed and compared to the results of previous studies found in the literature.

Description: Three specimens of the rare giant squid (genus Architeuthis, 18 nominal species) are described from the waters around southern Africa. Consideration of their internal and external morphology, including beaks, radula, statocyst and statolith give no reason to suppose that the three specimens do not pertain to the same species. A standardized data collection form and a summary of existing morphometric data are presented for the first time and the morphology and systematics of the genus are discussed. The value of various systematic characters is examined and certain guidelines are proposed, with an appeal for a more scientific approach to Architeuthis studies. Features of the internal anatomy, including the female reproductive tract, are described and illustrated and the beak dimensions are used to evaluate existing regression formulae for beak and body parameters. The statocyst and statolith are described and illustrated in full, the statolith for the first time, and are compared with those of other squids. The value of recent data from trawl-caught specimens, as well as indirect evidence, is cited to replace speculation in discussions on distribution and habitat. Our specimens suggest that the waters off the south-western coast of Africa may be one of the natural habitats of Architeurhis, during both feeding and spawning periods of the life cycle.

Description: Benthoctopus piscatorum appears to be a multiple spawner. In the ovary of one specimen about 50 eggs were found at various stages of development.

Description: The structure of the reproductive systems of mature males and females of the nektonic, oceanic squid Thysanoteuthis rhombus are described. The main peculiarities of the female system are relatively low capacity oviducts, set in a tight spiral, and hypertrophically developed oviducal glands with a very large second section. The male reproductive system is characterized by a long, narrow Needham's sac containing 10–15 large spermatophores 80–100 mm in length. The mesentery supporting the gonad, and protruding into it dorsally, is a characteristic feature in both sexes. The hectocotylus structure differs markedly from that in other squids and resembles that of sepiids. The reproductive system of T. rhombus possesses primitive features (pattern of gonad attachment and hectocotylus) but mostly secondary characters (small oviducts, very large oviducal glands and ovary). The complex morpho-ecological adaptations of T. rhombus are reflected in the distinctive features of the reproductive system.

Description: Seasonal variation in the diet of common seals (Phoca vitulina) in the Moray Firth, north-east Scotland, was determined from analysis of faecal samples collected at haul-out sites during each month of 1988. Data on diet of common seals in 1987 are also presented. Limitations of the methods available for quantification of diet are discussed. Although some of the observed variation in diet from month to month may reflect changes in the sampling regime, a clear seasonal pattern was apparent, with clupeids predominating in the winter and sandeels in the summer. The trends observed are consistent with opportunistic feeding on the most abundant Prey.

Description: The Stilbonemutinue (marine free-living nematodes) arc remarkable for cctosymbiotic bacteria, which cover the greatest part of their body in a highly ordered and species specific pattern. Using SEM we describe the main types of symbiotic cover and give evidence for the role of the bacteria in the nutrition of their host on the basis of stable carbon isotope ratios. In experimental systems the worms migrated repeatedly across a sulfide gradient during 12 h when sulfide concentrations were low, but stayed above the sulfide maximum at high concentrations. The migration across the chemocline exposes the symbionts alternately to reduced sulfur compounds and oxygen; this constitutes an alternative strategy to the ventilation/circulation systems in symbiotic macrofauna from sulfidic habitats

Description: The presence of several typically northern hemisphere foraminiferal species in the upper Miocene and Recent deposits of the Río de la Plata, Paraná river and adjacent areas, and their absence along the Brazilian coast strongly suggests that in the late Miocene the Caribbean and the Southern Atlantic were linked by a marine connection. This connection was first envisioned by H. von Ihering, who called it the ‘Arm of the Tethys’. It was represented by a very broad strait which ran meridionally across the South American continent. In the Pliocene it shrank considerably and its salinity was lowered by Andean river runoff. At the end of the Pliocene - beginning of the Pleistocene it gave rise to the Paraná river, a series of brackish water lakes and lagoons, and the Río de la Plata. □Foraminifera, arm of the Tethys, South America.

Description: The stomach contents of 1522 adult seals (Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus) and 673 pups, which were collected around the West and South Coasts of Southern Africa, were examined and cephalopod prey identified. About 20 cephalopod species (some identifications were uncertain) were found in the stomachs, of which only six were significant: Loligo vulgaris reynaudii. Sepia spp., Octopus sp., Todaropsis eblanae, Todarodes angolensis and Ocythoe tuberculata. This list suggests that A. pusillus feeds exclusively on the continental shelf, frequently on or near the bottom. Among adults, cephalopod prey varied in importance around the coast. It was most important on the South Coast of South Africa where it comprised 35.0% of the weight of all prey, of which L. v. veynaudii constituted about 88%. On the West Coast cephalopods comprised about 26.6% by weight of all prey, and Octopus sp. predominated, whereas in Namibian waters cephalopods were least important, constituting only 3.4% by weight of all prey, with Todarodes angolensis and Octopus sp. being most significant. Among pups (aged 8–10 months) in the Lüderitz (Namibia) area, cephalopods were about 16.9% of prey by weight, of which Ocythoe tuberculata, small Sepia spp. and Octopoda were most important.

Description: The cuttlefish ingests much skeleton from the crustaceans and fish it preys upon. The skeletal pieces are relatively large and their dimensions bear a close relationship to the length of the buccal mass and diameter of the oesophagus. The structures of the buccal mass are instrumental in the breakdown of prey and orientation of long pieces of skeleton to ensure their entry into the oesophagus. Many pieces of skeletal material present in the stomach contents still have attached muscles, showing that there is little, or no, external digestion. Skeletal material may be important for long-term maintenance of young Sepia in captivity.

Description: In the animal kingdom evolutionary size changes involved increasing, decreasing and stationary patterns. Planktic and benthic Foraminifera chiefly increased their size during evolution. This increase, however, did not always occur gradually, but could be interrupted by periods when the animals maintained or even decreased in size. The rate of the size increase is different for the various species examined, some benthic forms grew only 10% during the Oligocene-Pleistocene interval, while for others this figure was up to 96%. Some benthic species increased in size in certain areas, but not in others. It is not improbable that some phylogenetic trends of planktic Foraminifera representing, according to stratigraphers, the evolution of one species into another, represent in reality, from the biological point of view, specimens of the same species which changed their size and in addition some minor morphological traits which are encompassed by the normal span of intraspecific variability. A comprehensive understanding and explanation of the size change of Foraminifera needs much additional research.

Description: Benthic metabolism and standing stocks were investigated in the deep Red Sea between 21o and 27oN, Activity was assessed by the determination of respiration rates with a shipboard method and by calculating oxygen consumption from the activity in the electron transport system. We attempted to compare results from different latitudes within the warm Red Sea and with data from cold Atlantic environments. Our investigations were part of an environmental risk assessment to evaluate future mining of metalliferous sediments from the Atlantis II Deep.

Description: The diet of the king penguin Aptenodytes patagonicus at Marion Island was examined throughout the year by analysis of stomach samples. Fish accounted for 87% by wet mass, 75% by numbers and 69% by reconstituted mass. Their proportional importance by wet mass increased from 68% during winter to almost 100% in summer and probably reflects a real increase in their local availability. Squid comprised most of the remainder with crustaceans forming less than 1% of the diet by numbers. Prey items were generally small, the most abundant being three species of myctophid fish, Krefftichthys anderssoni, Protomyctophum tenisonì and Electrona carlsbergi, and a squid Kondakovia longimana. King penguins took both juvenile and adult Krefftichthys anderssoni and P. tenisoni, but only adult E. carlshergi. The juvenile and adult modal size classes of K. anderssoni and P. tenisoni increased from March through to February and the proportion of juvenile to adult fish increased in winter. The increase in the modal size class of the K. anderssoni/P. tenisoni complex during the year probably reflects growth of the fish, rather than movement of different populations in and out of the area exploited by king penguins. All squid consumed were probably juveniles. The modal size class of Kondakovia longimana increased from March to August, but in September to October smaller squid again formed a large proportion of the squid component of the diet. Numbers of measurable squid beaks recovered from November to February were low. This is the first time that mesopelagic myctophid fish have been shown to comprise a major component of the diet of a vertebrate predator in the Southern Ocean.

Description: Blidingia minima var. ramifera is reported for the first time in eastern North America. It occurs in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Nova Scotia and in Maine. In the estuary of the West and Rights Rivers (Antigonish Harbour, Nova Scotia) it is the most common intertidal alga and during its maximum growth period (June‐August) covers 75–90% of the intertidal zone for several km of shoreline at the mouth of the Rights River. In culture, spore germination and early development were typical of the taxon as described from Europe. The taxon is raised to specific status as Blidingia ramifera stat. nov. Blidingia subsalsa is confirmed from New England based on observations of spore germination in plants from Maine and Connecticut.