Specimens of Littorina littorea from unpolluted (Menai Bridge) and metal polluted (Restronguet Creek) sites have been analysed for ten metals in eight different tissues. The concentrations of metals in whole animals and in individual tissues have been subjected to linear correlation analysis to establish metal/metal and tissue/tissue interactions. The results indicate that copper and magnesium are accumulated independently by specific connective tissue cells. Group A metals are largely accumulated by the digestive gland whereas group B metals are concentrated by the kidney. At low levels of metals there may be competition for particular ligands but at higher levels of pollution new ligands may be induced in particular cells. The implications of these interactions are discussed in terms of cell physiology and related to the significance of the use of biological organisms as indicators of metal pollution.

Munida subrugosa is the most abundant galatheid crab species in the Beagle Channel (55°S 68°W) off Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Samples of crabs and the epibenthic community were taken on a monthly basis at two different depth strata (<40 m and >70 m), by means of epibenthic trawling from 1998 to 1999. Stomach contents from 1582 crabs were analysed, out of which only 2% had empty stomachs. The quantity of food in the stomach contents was clearly seasonal and similar at both depths. The organic matter varied throughout the year and between both depths, being significantly higher in summer/spring than in autumn/winter. Munida subrugosa shows two different and simultaneous feeding habits: (1) as a predator M. subrugosa feeds on crustaceans, algae, and polychaetes; and (2) as a deposit feeder M. subrugosa consumes particulate organic matter and organisms associated with the superficial layer of the sediment. The composition of the diet of Munida subrugosa was similar for both years, and independent of depth, sex or season. Munida subrugosa selected crustaceans only in autumn and winter, whereas most food items were found according to their availability in the habitat.

A description is given of a number of observations ahd experiments on the larvae and colonies of Tubularia. The experimental material could best be referred to the species T. larynx Ellis & Solander. Its characters are not wholly consistent with the diagnosis of this species, but the differences which exist are not great enough to warrant the erection of a new species.

Liberation of the actinulae takes place more freely in darkness than in light, and there is evidence which suggests that it only occurs in still water or in weak currents.

A 250 ml. chemostat has been used to measure the parameters of vitamin B requirement in the chrysomonad Monochrysis lutheri.

The yield constant was ca. 0·25 × 10 cells/μμg., i.e. one-third of the figure previously measured in batch cultures.

The saturation constant lay between 2 and 6 μμ/ml., i.e. at least twenty times the figure indicated by previous batch culture measurements.

Internal inconsistencies in the chemostat's operation indicate the presence of factors not accounted for by theory.

It is argued that only factors analogous to the release of protein-bound vitamin into the medium could in principle account for all the discrepancies.

There is some reduction in oxygen uptake of isolated bodies on starvation when carbohydrate is being utilized.

There is a gross discrepancy between the oxygen demand as measured in isolated bodies and the available substrate; respiration is probably reduced during inanition.

It is suggested that the moulting cycle is coupled to the metabolic activity in an obligatory fashion rather than being dominated by the kind of hormonal control found in decapods.

Larvae of the sand-eel, Ammodytes marinus, appear in large numbers in the Southern Bight during March, some 2–4 weeks after the peak hatching period of plaice eggs. The sand-eel larvae outnumber those of the plaice about tenfold, but the factor may be 60 or more locally.

The principal food components in sand-eel guts in 1961 were copepod nauplii and appendicularians, while plaice were feeding almost exclusively on the latter. Larvae of both species show identical feeding patterns, with activity ceasing at night, and both aggregate during the day at depths of about 2–6 fm. Thus the sand-eel larvae are not separated from the plaice larvae by any pattern of behaviour, and are partially exploiting the same food reserve.

Consideration of prey size suggests that any direct competition from the larval sand-eels would first affect the smallest plaice larvae, which are in any case the most vulnerable to shortage of food. But any reduction in the crop of small appendicularians will later be reflected in the number of larger ones, and in this way older plaice larvae might be affected. While the food supply appears to have been adequate up to the time of the investigation, the reserve apparently represented only 3 days' rations. The significance of this observation is unfortunately obscured by our ignorance of appendicularian biology; but, should the food reserve become so diminished, competition between plaice and sand-eel larvae might be expected. The extent of its impact on survival is only likely to emerge from more comprehensive surveys.

In 2002, a jellyfish bloom occurred throughout the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf causing decreased catch in artisanal and industrial fisheries, damage to fishing gear, interrupted operation of desalination plants, and damage to the seawater cooling systems of coastal power plants. The cause and source of the bloom and the species of medusa were unknown. Here, the temporal and spatial distribution of the medusa are described using data from incidental catches in Iranian fisheries surveys, and morphological and molecular evidence are used to identify the medusa as Crambionella orsini (Vanhöffen). This species is endemic to the western Indian Ocean and adjacent basins which dismisses species introduction as the cause of this bloom. Furthermore, because the bloom was geographically widespread, it probably was not caused by local coastal degradation. Although human activities with large-scale effects cannot be ruled out, large-scale oceanographic or ecosystem conditions, perhaps part of natural climate cycles, that yielded moderate sea surface temperatures (in terms of the annual mean monthly anomaly for each year since 1982) were the most likely causes of the bloom of this endemic jellyfish.

In view of the importance of Calanus as a food for fish, and especially for the Herring, its food and feeding habits have been kept under examination throughout the course of the year.

The exposure of two species of talitrid amphipods (Orchestia gammarellus and Orchestia mediterranea) to a range of zinc and copper concentrations in solution has enabled the categorization of the mode of metal accumulation adopted by these supralittoral amphipods. Both species showed net accumulation of dissolved zinc and copper at all experimental exposures between 20 and 1000 μig Zng 1 and 13 and 1000 μg Cu 1 in artificial sea-water. Studies using Zn have shown that the zinc uptake rates of both species (0·430 μg Zn g d, SE 0·032 and 0·408 µg Zn g d, SE 0·073 for O. gammarellus and O. mediterranea respectively at 10°C in 31·6 μg Zn 1) are not significantly different, and are low in comparison with other crustaceans. Laboratory results are related to field conditions, and it is concluded that Firth of Clyde O. gammarellus are more dependent upon a food source in order to meet both their copper and zinc requirements than are O. mediterranea which are able to obtain sufficient metabolic copper from solution. The use of talitrid amphipods in zinc and copper biomonitoring programmes is also discussed.

The American oyster drill, Urosalpinx cinerea introduced to UK waters around the turn of the century, flourished in the Essex oyster grounds until the 1970s. Recent observations, 1987–1990, made in Goldhanger Creek, River Blackwater, indicate that the population level has been reduced to the point of scarcity and that those individuals remaining are old. All females examined exhibited imposex. In most, this masculinizing syndrome was developed to an advanced state that involved oviducal malformation; copulation and egg capsule formation are thought to have been inhibited and hence such affected females were sterile. Other, probably very old, females appeared infertile because of senility. No viable spawn was observed during the four summers of 1987 – 1990.

Many metallic elements are concentrated by marine animals to levels far in excess of their concentrations in sea water itself. This concentration extends not only to those elements which are known to have biochemical functions, but also to others which have no established biological role (e.g. cadmium and lead). Little is known about the mechanisms by which trace elements are concentrated, or about the manner in which they are held in the tissues. As a preliminary to the investigation of concentration mechanisms, reliable data are required concerning the distribution of the elements in a variety of marine animals.

This study used classification and regression trees (CART) to investigate and compare the habitat preferences of marine mammals in this area. Data were collected in early summer (June/July) in 2004 and 2005 and the distribution of marine mammal species was compared to 10 ecogeographic variables (EGVs). Of 13 species of marine mammals sighted during the study, there were sufficient sightings to examine the habitat preferences of seven. For all species a measure of ‘shelf tendency’ (distance to coast or water depth) was an important variable and the species could be separated into two groups, the deep-water species and the shelf species, with little overlap between them. The occurrence of both deep-water species (long-finned pilot whales and Atlantic white-sided dolphins) was also related to dynamic variables such as sea surface temperature (SST) or primary productivity. Two of the shelf species (northern minke whales and grey seals) were only linked to topographic variables and were limited to quite specific habitats. A third species (harbour porpoise) was primarily related to topographic variables, but in the shallowest waters was also related to local variation in SST. The occurrence of the final two species (common and white-beaked dolphins) was linked to SST and local primary productivity. However, while both species preferentially occurred in areas with higher productivity, the two species differed in their preference for SST, with common dolphins preferentially occurring in warmer waters and white-beaked dolphins in colder waters.

1. The natural history in culture of the species of Nitzschia originally isolated from the sea by Allen & Nelson (1910) and grown at Plymouth and elsewhere ever since has been studied. It is shown that three main types of cell exist: normal with two arms (rostra), triradiate with three arms and ovals with none. Both normals and triradiates produce ovals by division, and the ovals so produced can multiply to form further ovals, or can grow either two or three arms, generally two, to form normal or triradiate cells.

2. Ovals are more readily produced under good lighting conditions than under weak illumination.

3. The cell wall is very lightly silicified, and the cells, unlike those of most diatoms, can elongate without auxospore formation. The maximum, and with it apparently the average, cell size of successive subcultures is variable.

4. When triradiates are present they may, and frequently do under good cultural conditions, multiply faster than normal cells and finally may almost completely dominate the cultures. Now and again a proportion of the triradiate cells shorten one arm and gradually pass, during successive divisions, into the normal condition. There is a greater tendency for this process to take place in the autumn than at any other time. There was a notable instance in November 1941 when several cultures at Plymouth and at Hull simultaneously produced normals by this method on an extensive scale.

5. There is evidence that under unfavourable cultural conditions triradiates tend to be eliminated.

6. A cruciform type of cell has appeared occasionally in several cultures, but it has not been possible to obtain pure cultures of it, for the type appears to be somewhat unstable and readily reverts to the other forms. It has, however, persisted for a long time and for very many generations.

7. It is shown that the triradiate type occurs in nature, and there is no reason to suppose that it is an abnormal form due to culturing.

8. The nomenclature is discussed and it has been decided for the time being to retain the name Allen and Nelson originally gave to it, although there is a possibility that it is a species separate from Nitzschia closterium (Ehr.) W. Smith.

Three exposed sandy beaches were selected to compare fluctuations in density of the most abundant species, and to verify the influence of spatial and temporal variations on the community structure. Sampling was carried out every three months, from June 1993 to May 1995, on Fora, Prainha, and Boqueirão Beaches. The first two beaches were classified by Dean's morphodynamic index (Ω) as intermediate, and the last as reflective. Slope, beach width and median grain size were significantly different among the beaches. Two-way analysis of variance revealed significant differences in species richness only among the beaches. No significant differences in density of the macrofauna between beaches and season were observed. However, Prainha Beach showed a higher temporal variation of the density of the macrofauna (and higher standard deviation) than the other two beaches. Emerita brasiliensis (Crustacea: Decapoda), Excirolana braziliensis (Crustacea: Isopoda), and Pseudorchestoidea brasiliensis (Crustacea: Amphipoda) were the most abundant species. Canonical correspondence analysis calculated the influence of the temporal variation as 27·5%; the influence of the environmental variation on community structure was 20·9%. The results suggest that in spite of the long-term fluctuations in species density, the beaches did not have temporal differences in the species richness and total density macrofauna during the study period.

The work includes an investigation of the intertidal distribution of several species previously studied in Cardigan Bay. Twelve localities in the neighbourhood of Plymouth were selected for study, showing a range from conditions of extreme exposure to surf action to conditions of maximum shelter. The main features of rock configuration and surf action at the different localities are briefly described.

The method of investigation is described, and results obtained for the zonation of the fucoids on Church Reef are compared with the results of Colman (1933). It concluded that the method of survey adopted in the present work yields results of a high degree of accuracy.

The horizontal and vertical distributions of the flora are described and related to the intensity of surf action. This is followed by a discussion of the effects of wave intensity and wave frequency on the distribution of algae in general. The importance of the frequency of wave shock in the mid-tidal region of the shore, and its influence on algal colonization, is stressed. An attempt is made to arrange the algae studied in order of decreasing tolerance of surf.

The distribution of the selected species of animals at the different localities is described; and a discussion follows on the effect of wave action as a presence or absence factor in horizontal distribution, and as a modifying factor on vertical zonation. The effect of surf on the size of individuals of certain species is also commented upon.

The relation of the plant and animal species to different percentage exposures to the air at different shore levels is discussed.

Species abundance data for benthic communities, collected during 1971–1988 off Northumberland on the north-east coast of England (western North Sea) and the Skagerrak (eastern North Sea), and pelagic data collected in corresponding areas during 1958–1988 by the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey have been subjected tomulti-dimensional scaling ordination. Changes in community structure at the two benthic stations show a high degree of similarity, characterised by a transition in the late 70s. Similarly, there is a less marked transition between the 70s and 80s in pelagic community structure from the eastern North Sea but pelagic data from the western North Sea shows no discernible patterns. Benthic community biomass data, available only for the Skagerrak station, enabled abundance/biomass comparison curves to be constructed which demonstrated a change from un-disturbed communities in the early and mid 70s to moderately disturbed communities in the late 70s and 80s. North Sea macrofaunal abundance, and, in the Skagerrak, macrofaunal biomass appear to co-vary with phytoplankton colour and total zooplankton abundance, although there are insufficient data for statistical testing. A number of factors including eutrophication and/or pollution may be responsible for these changes in community structure.

An electrophoretic study of whole blood samples revealed the presence of haemocyanin and of various other proteins in the blood of fifteen species of marine and terrestrial amphipods and isopods.

The amount of haemocyanin per 1 mm3 of blood is independent of body weight over a range from 10 mg to 1 kg.

Under laboratory conditions and during starvation the haemocyanin level of the blood is lowered as compared with freshly caught specimens.

No relationship between moulting stage and haemocyanin content could be established in three oniscoid isopods, representing Ligia, Oniscus, and Porcellio.

In some species the densities of both haemocyanin and ‘slow proteins’ (i.e. proteins between starting line and haemocyanin) seem to vary in more or less the same direction, over at least part of the total range of variability. In the offshore Conilera, however, an indirect relationship seems to exist between these two protein fractions. This is reminiscent of the situation in Maia squinado described by Zuckerkandl (1960).

The slow protein fractions appear to play a number of roles in the species investigated. In Conilera they consist of various copper proteids (perhaps concerned with the synthesis of haemocyanin?), while in intertidal amphipods and some isopods they carry chromophilic groups that may be of importance in mechanisms of colour change. The colour of the blood of a given specimen of Orchestia gammarella and Marinogammarus marinus depends on the amount of the faster moving, blue chromoproteid present in the blood. These chromoproteids are considered to be carotenoproteids.

Some crustaceans show variations of their reproductive biology within their geographical distribution, and knowledge about such variations is important for the comprehension of their reproductive adaptations. This study compared two populations of the fiddler crab Uca uruguayensis from two locations on the south-western Atlantic coast: Ubatuba Bay, São Paulo, Brazil and Samborombón Bay, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The population features analysed were the body size variation (carapace width = CW) and the size at the onset of sexual maturity (SOM) in order to test the hypothesis that the size at SOM, should be the same in relative terms (RSOM), independently of the latitudinal position. In the Brazilian population the CW ranged from 4.18 to 11.60 mm for males and 3.90 to 9.80 mm for females, and in the Argentinean population from 3.60 to 14.10 mm for males and 2.85 to 12.00 mm for females. In the Brazilian population the SOM was 7.1 (RSOM = 0.58) and 5.9 mm CW (RSOM = 0.57) for males and females, respectively, and in the Argentinean population it was 7.0 (RSOM = 0.42) and 6.75 mm CW (RSOM = 0.53) for males and females, respectively. This fact is probably related to a great plasticity in the life history features of Uca uruguayensis under different environmental conditions.

The spectral sensitivities of five species of decapod crustaceans have been determined by electroretinogram measurements. Their spectral sensitivities conform to the general picture for marine crustacea with high sensitivity to blue-green wavelengths and some showing sensitivity to violet/near ultraviolet. Two deep-water species (Paromola cuvieri and Chaceon (Geryon) affinis) have spectral sensitivity maxima below 500 nm, whereas the three coastal species examined (Crangonallmani, Pandalus montagui and Nephrops norvegicus) are maximally sensitive to light of longer wavelengths (510 to 525 nm).

elasmobranch fish are susceptible to over-exploitation by commercial and recreational fisheries and an increasing focus of conservation initiatives. the lack of accurate species-specific landings data in many european fisheries and the paucity of biological data have restricted the types of stock assessment that can be undertaken. hence, other methods of determining the overall status of elasmobranch fish are required. for demersal elasmobranchs around the british isles, the most widely available biological data describe life histories and abundance from fishery-independent surveys. here, we examine the length-distribution of demersal elasmobranchs caught during groundfish surveys, to determine which life history stages are sampled effectively. for these stages, we report trends in abundance and relate the trends to knowledge of the species' biology and fisheries, and to the decline criteria that are used to assess species' status by nature conservation agencies. the analyses show that many large demersal elasmobranchs have been severely depleted in uk waters but that groundfish surveys still provide a good source of data for monitoring changes in status of the more abundant species. for rare and highly depleted species, groundfish surveys often provide good retrospective descriptions of declines, but the surveys have limited power to detect recent changes in status.