Slope currents in the Bay of Biscay show a consistent poleward transport but seasonaltrends and vertical current structure appear more variable. Indeed more long term records are required to establish seasonal trends firmly.

In the south of the region (Spanish slopes, mooring 118), the upper-slope (water depth 1005 m) flow exhibited a strong vertical structure with the maximum surface inflowoccurring in the winter period, and this effect may be wind induced. Satellite imageryshows that this flow originates from the Iberian slope and that a decreasing along-slopesurface transport occurs along the north Spanish slopes at this time of year.

In the north of the region (Porcupine Seabight slopes) vertical structure was againevident in the upper slope (~1000–m depth) flow. At mooring 114 the flow at mid–depth showed a weakening along-slope flow and an on-slope tendency in the March/April period; a complete reversal in the slope current occurred at mid–depths at the position of mooring 112 during March.

In the central region (Celtic and -Armorican slopes) seasonal variations in the upperlayers on the slopes were also present. In this region, the upper–slope transport (2500m depth) reached maximum values of 3–5 Sv in late summer. Upper flows at the rise (mooring 8002) were directed on-slope during the period of maximum upper–slope transport but changed direction in the March/April period.

In this region on the Celtic shelf (DB1), the surface flow is in a counter–current sense and wind-induced and so the seasonal variations here reflect seasonality in the wind stress.

Rates of respiration and nitrogen excretion have been measured for freshly caught Calanus finmarchicus (Gunnerus), Calanus hyperboreus (Krayer), Metridia longa (Lubbock) and Pareuchaeta norvegica (Boeck), from the Gulf of Maine at all seasons. The dry weight, total (Kjeldahl) nitrogen, and fat were also determined for the same animals. Seasonal variation in weight-corrected respiration and nitrogen excretion followed a similar pattern for all four species, being high in the spring and decreasing gradually through summer and fall to a winter minimum. However, the relative proportions of oxygen utilized to nitrogen excreted were different from season to season for each species. In Calanus spp., O: N ratios by atoms were highest in May, immediately after the spring bloom of phytoplankton, when the animals were rich in fat. With C. hyperboreus the ratio then declined gradually through summer and fall to a low point just before the spring bloom (March and April) when populations contained the least amount of fat; but with C. finmarchicus the ratio fell much more rapidly, remaining near 17 through summer and fall and increasing again with the production of the overwintering generation. In Metridia and Pareuchaeta the O:N ratios did not show as much seasonal variation, although there was a pronounced increase for Metridia just after the spring bloom. Both species usually had higher respiration and excretion rates and lower O:N ratios compared with Calanus spp.

The concentration of copper in Nereis diversicolor O. F. Miiller is roughly related to the total concentration in the sediment and particularly high concentrations are found where mining pollution occurs. In contrast, the concentration ofzinc in Nereis remains remarkably constant despite wide variations in the environment and appears to be accurately regulated.

Mytilus edulis L. is shown to acclimate to high and low temperature under laboratory conditions. The warm and cold acclimation of oxygen consumption, filtration rate and assimilation efficiency are described for groups of animals maintained at three food-cell concentrations. Complete acclimation (Precht's type 2) of oxygen consumption and filtration rate occur within 14 days. There is no change in assimilation efficiency within the 28-day experimental period. The results are integrated and discussed in the context of a simple energy budget. In terms of the energy budget there exists a marked contrast between warm and cold acclimation. An “index of energy balance” is proposed in order to assess the state of the energy balance. When animals are fed above the maintenance requirement the energy budget remains in an equilibrium state during cold acclimation, whereas the acclimation to a warm temperature regime disrupts the balance and represents a physiological stress. During warm acclimation, prior to the re-establishment of an energy equilibrium the blood sugar level increases, suggesting that the animal is required to mobilize and utilize its energy reserves.

Mussels were fed four concentrations of seston (between 0·99 and 10·3 mg total seston I−1), comprising three levels of organic content (71·9, 63·6 and 40·8%), made up from natural silt and two species of cultured phytoplankton. Two of the seston concentrations were below, and two above, the threshold at which pseudofaeces were produced. Measurements of physiological traits (filtration rates, pseudofaeces production, selection efficiency, absorption efficiency, absorption rates and rates of oxygen consumption) were made after 2 days and, for two of the seston concentrations, also after 12 days. When fed at a high concentration of seston of low organic content, the mussels increased their filtration rate, rejected a higher proportion of filtered material as pseudofaeces, and increased the efficiency with which filtered matter of higher organic content was selected for ingestion; this resulted in a constancy of the relationship between ingestion rate and the concentration of particulate organic matter, regardless of differences in seston organic content. Between 2 and 12 d, the mussels increased absorption rates for organics, primarily by increasing absorption efficiency, both for total organics and for the carbohydrate component of the diet. We suggest that these responses to changes in the food environment comprise physiological adjustments which result in higher net rates of absorption than would be predicted from considerations only of the organic/inorganic ratio of the suspended particles and assumptions of a non-compensating feeding behaviour.

Development, growth, and survival data derived from laboratory experiments are provided for Lepeophtheirus salmonis, a common ectoparasite of wild and sea-farmed salmonids. The mean development time of eggs was 419·1 hours (17·5 days) at 5°C, 207·1 hours (8·6 days) at 10°C, and 130·8 hours (5·5 days) at 15°C. Development from the first nauplius to the infectious copepodid stage took 222·3 hours (9·3 days) at 5°C, 87·4 hours (3·6 days) at 10°C, and 44·8 (1·9 days) hours at 15°C. Development from the egg to the adult male took 40 days, and from the egg to the adult female 52 days at 10°C. No egg development occurred at 10‰ salinity. At 15‰ eggs developed but failed to produce active nauplii. At higher salinities (20–3‰) active nauplii were produced, but copepodids were only obtained at 30‰. Copepodids survived for less than 1 day in waters with a salinity of 10‰ or less. At higher salinities (15–30‰) and temperatures of 5,10, and 15°C average survival times ranged between 2 and 8 days.

An attempt has been made to deal briefly but quantitatively with all size groups of the fauna and flora in a marine mud deposit.

It has been necessary to propose the following new terminology: the Macrobenthos, which is here equivalent to the macrofauna, the Meiobenthos, under which term are included copepods, nematodes, foraminifera, etc., and the Microbenthos, comprising the rest of the protozoa, bacteria, bottom diatoms and other algae; planktonic diatoms and coloured flagellates also occur on the bottom in the region investigated but are not regarded as true microbenthos.

A quantitative ecological study of the microbenthos has been started and the habitat is first described, stress being laid on points of importance to the microorganisms.

The census method for bacteria was an agar-plate method and that for the protozoa and diatoms was a dilution culture method modified from that used by soil microbiologists.

These methods give minimal values for the total population and may safely be used for comparative purposes. The results are still tentative.

Typical figures for the minimal numbers and volumes of living protoplasm per gram of dry mud in the top ½ cm. layer are given in Tables I-IV.

The surface layer is much richer in all types of organisms than is the mud deeper in the cores. There is considerable local horizontal variation in numbers of bacteria and protozoa, suggesting dense aggregations.

Diatoms contribute by far the greatest bulk to the total volume of living micro-organisms; planktonic diatoms, particularly during the summer, completely outweigh the true microbenthos.

Coelenterates (cnidaria and ctenophores) are well recognized as predators in food webs of marine ecosystems but are less often considered as prey. This is partly because they are digested very rapidly. In studies based on predator stomach contents the measured masses of different prey organisms are rarely scaled by their relative rates of digestion. Predators that are frozen and thawed, or for which whole stomachs are placed in preservatives, may have already lost much of their coelenterate content when they are examined. There is also a tendency to assume that gelatinous organisms, with their high water and salt content relative to organic content, are poor food. However, given the high rates of digestion (and presumably of assimilation) coelenterates may provide sources of energy comparable to better recognized prey such as arthropods. It is already becoming well documented that a number of cnidaria and ctenophores as well as fish utilize gelatinous organisms as prey. Data is accumulating more slowly on predation by a wide range of other carnivores such as molluscs, arthropods, reptiles and birds.

Concentrations of copper, zinc, lead, manganese and iron in the brown seaweed Fucus vesiculosus have been measured in samples collected over its range of distribution in four estuaries having different degrees of metal contamination. Factors controlling the concentrations in the weed have been studied and include the concentrations of metals in the water, seasonal changes, the position of the weed in the intertidal zone and the particular portion of the plant which is analysed. It is concluded that analysis of the weed gives a reasonable indication of average conditions in the water at points along an estuary and provides a method of making comparisons with the same estuary in subsequent years or with other estuaries.

In a previous paper Bayne & Thompson (1970) showed that temperature and nutritive stress resulted in a decline in body condition of mussels, Mytilus edulis, when kept in the laboratory. Both carbohydrate and protein were lost from the body tissues but the losses (as a percentage of the initial values) were greater from the germinal (mantle) than from the somatic (non-mantle) tissues. In spite of the loss of body reserves, M. edulis was able to continue maturation of the gonad during the autumn to spring period. In the early summer, however, when the gametes were fully ripe, stress resulted in a recession of the gonad and a rapid loss of protein from the mantle tissues. A similar decline in condition index and loss of glycogen and protein has been reported for adult oysters, Ostrea edulis, when maintained under hatchery conditions (Gabbott & Walker, 1971).

Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg) and Ostrea edulis L. were grown at sustained temperatures of 12°, 15°, 18° and 21°C for a period of 19 weeks. Regular assays of weight specific ammonia excretion rate were made, following which animals were sacrificed for estimation of dry meat weight, dry shell weight, biochemical composition (percentage carbon, nitrogen, carbohydrate, ash) and gonadal development (histological assessment). Crassostrea gigas grew from an intial live weight of 5·2 g to values of 23·5, 28·2, 34·6 and 38·7 g at 120, 150, 180 and 21 °C respectively.

Twenty-one species of female decapod Crustacea with gravid ovaries were collected from the field and spawned naturally in the laboratory. Newly spawned eggs and incubating females were kept at temperatures between 3 °C and 24 °C constant at 3 °C increments until the eggs hatched after completing their embryonic development.

An opening and closing net system is described in which 1 m2 and 8 m2 rectangular trawls are combined in the same framework; details of the acoustic telemetering and release equipment are included. A brief account of the application of the rectangular system to larger and to more specialized trawls is given.

In experiments on four species of barnacles and four species of top-shells, the barnacles were found to be more resistant to high or low temperatures than the top-shells. Among each group of animals the degree of tolerance was related to the geographical distribution of the species and their zonation on the shore. Thus most tolerance of high temperature was shown by species of southern distribution, especially by those occurring at the upper limit of the midlittoral zone, and most tolerance of low temperature by species of northern distribution. Least tolerance of high and low temperatures was shown by species found only in the infralittoral fringe or below low water.

Field measurements of the body temperatures of barnacles and limpets while exposed to the air were made with thermocouples. Under many weather conditions the body temperatures were higher than would be expected from local meteorological values of air temperature. This difference was due to retention of sea temperature by the animals and the rocks and to the heating effects of sunlight.

The results of the laboratory experiments and of the field measurements are discussed together in relation to weather and geographical distribution. It is clear that the temperatures experienced on the shore are well within the tolerance limits of most of the animals, and even exceptional extremes of temperature may have little direct influence on the distribution of adult intertidal animals. Evidence for a causal relation between temperature and distribution must be sought in non-lethal terms such as debilitating effects, or indirectly through competition between species, or in combination with other factors.

In the first paper of this series (Bryan & Hummerstone, 1971) it was shown that in the estuarine polychaete Nereis diversicolor O. F. Müller the concentration of copper is roughly proportional to that of the surrounding sediment. On the other hand, concentrations of zinc appeared to be relatively independent of those in the sediment and it was suggested that the level of zinc in the worm is regulated.

The production, longevity, growth, regeneration and reproduction of Laminaria saccharina (L.) Lamour. on the Devon and Argyll coasts are described.

Bathymetric zone and habitat control the fertility and longevity of the gametophyte and consequently the production of the sporophyte. Sporophytes develop at the higher levels during the winter, early spring, late summer and autumn, and at the lower levels during spring, summer and autumn.

Longevity of the sporophyte depends on season of germination, bathymetric zone and habitat. Winter sporophytes rarely persist to maturity. Spring sporophytes form the bulk of all L. saccharina populations except on very sheltered coasts in the sublittoral zone where summer sporophytes may be equally numerous. On the British coast the life-span of a L. saccharina sporophyte does not exceed 3 years.

The anatomy and histology of the food collecting and alimentary organs of the adult oyster are described.

The anatomy of the stomach is investigated with the aid of gelatin casts and attention drawn to the food caecum, the ventral groove, and the two ducts of the digestive diverticula.

Cilia and mucus glands are universal throughout the food collecting and alimentary organs.

There is evidence that the gastric shield is composed of fused cilia.

The histology of the style-sac resembles that described by Mackintosh for Crepidula. There is evidence that secretion of the style takes place in the groove.

Phagocytes are everywhere numerous in the blood vessels, connective tissue and epithelia, and free in the gut and mantle cavity.

The alimentary organs of the larva are described.

The anatomy and histology of these organs in the spat isdescribed, the palps are relatively large and the gills asymmetrical. The style-sac is distinct from the mid-gut.

The course of the ciliary currents on the gills and palps is described and the importance of the various selective mechanisms emphasized.Selection appears to be purely quantitative, large particles or mucus masses being rejected and smaller ones accepted.

Muscular activity is of great importance in the functioning of both gills and palps. Reversal of cilia has never been seen.

Rejected matter is removed from the mantle cavity.

Material is sorted in the food caecum in the stomach, larger particles passing into the mid-gut and smaller ones towards the gastric shield and ducts of the digestive diverticula, within the tubules of which there is a constant circulation.

The rotation of the style assists in the stirring of matter in the stomach.

In the style-sac are cilia, which rotate the style and others which push it into the storuach.

In the larva the velum acts as a food collecting organ ; the style lies in an extension of the stomach and rotates rapidly. Material passes freely into the digestive diverticula.

In the spat rejective mechanisms are highly developed. The style revolves at a speed of between sixty and seventy revolutions per minute.

The tubules of the digestive diverticula are the only place where soluble matter is absorbed, in adult, larvae, or spat.

Fine particles are ingested and digested intracellularly in the tubules of the digestive diverticula, the products of digestion carried away by amoebocytes, and useless matter rejected into the lumen.

Larger particles are ingested and digested by phagocytes in all parts, the products of digestion being carried to the vesicular connective tissue cells and there stored.

Enzymes in the style digest starch and glycogen. The amylase, at pH 5.9, has an optimum temperature of 43'C, and is destroyed at

The optimum medium is pH 5-9. It is inactivated by purification with absolute alcohol or by dialysis, but action is restored on the addition of chlorides or bromides and to a less extent iodides, nitrates, and carbonates, but not with sulphates or fluorides.

Sucroclastic enzymes in the digestive diverticula act on starch, glycogen, sucrose, raffinose, maltose, lactose, salicin, and amygdalin, but not on inulin, cellulose, or pentosans.

The amylase, at pH 5-5, has an optimum temperature of 44-5, and is destroyed at between 64 and 67. It has an optimum pH of 5-5, and is inactivated after purification or dialysis, action being restored in the presence of chlorides or bromides.

There is a weak lipase and protease, the latter has two optima at pH 3-7 and at or above 9-0 ; its action is very slow.

The only enzymes free in the stomach are those from the style.

There is no evidence of any enzymes free in the gill mucus.

There is a powerful complete oxidase system in the style, and a catalase in the digestive diverticula and gonad, and traces in the palps, gills, and muscle.

The style is the most acid substance in the gut and the cause of the acidity of the gut.

The style is dissolved rapidly in fluid of pH 2-3 and above, but very slowly below that point. It is readily dissolved and reformed in the oyster, its presence depending on the maintenance of the balance between the rate of secretion and the rate of dissolution. Its condition is a valuable indication of the state of metabolism.

Glycogen and fat are stored, particularly in the vesicular connective tissue cells, the former furnishing the principal reserve food material.

The presence of abundant supplies of microscopic plant life rich in carbohydrates provides ideal food for the oyster, and represents optimum conditions for fattening and reproduction.

Populations of the gastropod, Nucella lapillus (L.), normally one of the commonest of rocky-shore macroinvertebrates, have recently suffered from declining numbers at many sites along the south coast of England. Bryan et al. (1986) showed that these declining populations exhibited a high degree of imposex (the induction of a penis and vas deferens in females) and that imposex was almost certainly caused by tributyltin (TBT) compounds leached from ships' antifouling paints. Evidence implicating TBT compounds in the development of imposex included: (1) a good relationship between the degree of imposex and the proximity of affected populations to harbours and marinas; (2) in Plymouth Sound, the degree of imposex increased dramatically between its discovery in 1969 (Blaber, 1970) and 1985, thus coinciding with the introduction and increasing usage of TBT-based paints; (3) tissue concentrations of tin as TBT increased consistently with the degree of imposex; (4) animals transplanted from a ‘clean’ area to a harbour site absorbed TBT and developed imposex; (5) preliminary experiments showed that imposex was induced by exposure to 20 ng/1 of tin as TBT leached from a TBT-based paint; (6) TBT is implicated in the induction of imposex in other stenoglossan gastropods including Nassarius obsoletus (Say) (Smith, 1981) and Ocenebra erinacea (L.) (Féral & Gall, 1982).

The rate of water filtration by bivalves has long excited interest, but it has in practice proved difficult to measure in conditions where the animal is relatively free from constraint. Its estimation is important from a number of aspects: feeding studies; as an indicator of the animal's reaction to its environment; and for predicting the flow of water required for the culture of economically important species. The work reported in this paper started as part of the general programme on shellfish culture in progress at this laboratory. During the development of a suitable method for studying the water requirements it became clear that one factor, water current, had a more important influence than has been generally recognized.

Mussels (Mytilus edulis L.) were held under five different experimental conditions for 8 weeks during which measurements of physiological condition, and certain cytological and cytochemical observations, were made. The mussels were then induced to spawn and the numbers of eggs released, the weights of these eggs, and their biochemical composition, were determined. During the experiment new gametes were developed by mussels under all conditions, but there was also a simultaneous regression and resorption of previously formed gametes, particularly in mussels under the greatest stress from high temperature and lack of food. The degree of stress experienced by the animals was measured as the scope for growth, or the energy available for somatic growth and the production of gametes. The distribution and activity of lysosomal enzymes within the Leydig tissue of the mantle suggested that autolysis of these cells occurred, coupled to the mobilization of glycogen for gametogenesis. Mussels under stress produced fewer and smaller eggs, in smaller follicles, than mussels not under stress. The biochemical composition of the eggs (as µg of biochemical component per mg of egg) did not vary consistently with adult condition, but eggs from stressed females had less lipid and protein than eggs from normal females. It is suggested that these relationships between the physiological condition of the adult, gametogenesis, fecundity and the biochemical content of the eggs are important for understanding the impact of the environment on ecological fitness.