The reef inhabiting fusilier, Caesio cuning, characterized by pinkish abdomen and yellow caudal fin exhibits shoaling behaviour and is known to be geographically distributed from the Gulf of Mannar to the Vanuatu Islands in the South Pacific. The present observation is evidence for the first record of this species off Goa, west coast of India, to be outside its known geographical array. The bay–estuarine and coastal region of Goa influenced by south-west monsoon receives nutrient-rich water during upwelling. Hence the region is highly productive and supports diverse marine assemblages. Moreover, the present observation reveals very low numbers (N = 4) of this species in the light of the trawl hauls (N = 92) with a core sampling effort of 146 hours, wherein it was found to occur only in two hauls. The paper also provides detailed insight into the description of C. cuning from this region with orthodox taxonomic methods including morphometry and meristic counts.

Since its first record in Spanish waters in 2000, Percnon gibbesi has expanded its distribution southwards. In the summer of 2009 it was observed in the south-east Mediterranean Sea including inside a marine reserve. Its widespread presence during the last year in many coastal sites of the Murcia Region indicates its fast colonization ability and the potential risk of competition and displacement of native crab species, which should be studied carefully.

This work reports Bodianus rufus (Labridae) cleaning three clients with nocturnal habits, Rypticus saponaceus (Serranidae), Myripristis jacobus (Holocentridae) and Odontoscion dentex (Sciaenidae) during the day. Our data reinforces the hypothesis that the proximity of temporary cleaning stations to nocturnal fish shelters reduces the exposure of clients to potential predators.

The bluntnose sixgill shark Hexanchus griseus, predominately a deep-water species (maximum depth: 2500 m), was captured approximately 30 km up a river on a bottom-set longline. Although this species has previously been reported moving into shallow waters at night in other regions of the world, this is the first confirmed report of a sixgill shark in a river.

In September 2007, observations were made of a siphonophore in surface waters and near to the seabed by sea users off south Devon and south-east Cornwall. The same siphonophore was also recorded from regular samples collected offshore of Plymouth. The species is identified as Apolemia uvaria, which had not previously been recorded off Plymouth. It was sampled until March 2008 and re-appeared, in smaller numbers, in autumn 2008 until February 2009 but was not reliably reported in autumn 2009 (to end of October). The occurrence is unlikely to be due to sea warming, but more likely some variation in oceanic currents, possibly influxes of Atlantic water.

The present study reports the first record of predation of the banded butterflyfish Chaetodon striatus on the jellyfish Chrysaora lactea on Brazilian rocky reefs. The activity involved a pair of C. striatus and was photographed and video-recorded. We believe that temporarily available food resources benefit species with a more generalist diet.

Little marine mammal research has been carried out along the West African coastline, and the cetacean fauna is consequently poorly documented. Namibe Province in southern Angola was the site of several historical whaling stations, but current knowledge of the occurrence of large whales and odontocete species is lacking. A dedicated cetacean study was carried out off Flamingos, Namibe Province during the austral summer and winter of 2008. A total of 1161.2 km (96.5 hours) of boat-based search effort, 531.8 km (49.2 hours) of vehicle-based search effort and 46.6 hours of fixed-site survey effort was collected, during which 148 cetacean sightings were recorded. The 143 positively-identified sightings comprised Atlantic humpback dolphin Sousa teuszii (N = 71), bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus (N = 24), Bryde's whale Balaenoptera cf. brydei (N = 37) and humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae (N = 11). The Atlantic humpback dolphin occurred similarly in both summer and winter and occupied a strictly nearshore habitat usually within 300 m of the coast. Both the absolute number of sightings and the sighting rate of bottlenose dolphins were higher during the winter than the summer. Bryde's whale was present only during the summer survey. While present during both survey periods, humpback whales were more numerous during the winter. The dataset increases knowledge of the cetaceans occurring off southern Angola. However, further survey work is required to clarify the distribution, ecology and potential threats to cetacean species in the region.

Grazing experiments targeting the determination of in situ grazing rates are standard. In two separate experiments the effect of the frequently used siphon filling technique on the abundance of microzooplankton during the set-up of grazing experiments was investigated and compared to results from an alternative filling method. Hereby, water containing natural communities from Helgoland Roads, Germany (54°11.3′N 7°54.0′E), was transferred into incubation bottles using a funnel system (funnel-transfer technique (FTT)). The impact of pre-screening with a 200 µm net for excluding larger mesozooplankton grazers from the incubations was evaluated. Results show that the ciliate community was strongly affected by siphoning and pre-screening, leading to significant differences in abundance and Margalef diversity. The most affected ciliates were Lohmanniella oviformis and Myrionecta rubra, both important species in the North Sea. Dinoflagellates did not show any significant response to either siphoning or pre-screening with the exception of one athecate species. Such artificial bias in ciliate assemblages is very problematic for biodiversity consideration and grazing investigations. Simply changing the method of filling during the experimental set-up can ensure the measurement of accurate grazing rates of field abundances of microzooplankton. We thus recommend using conservative filling approaches like the FTT in experiments, especially when sensitive species are present, in order to avoid shifts in the overall microzooplankton community. Furthermore, we recommend introducing a control to evaluate the degree of changes in the target community due to the experimental set-up.

New records of two rare Crustacea from Andalusia coasts, Spain, Western Mediterranean Sea, are given. The capture of one specimen of Platysquilla eusebia (Risso, 1816) (Stomatopoda) filling the distribution gap existing between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and confirms the presence of this species in the Alboran Sea. On the other hand, the capture of Automate branchialis Holthuis & Gottlieb, 1958 off Almería extends the distribution area of the species to the entire Mediterranean.

Research on organotin compounds (OTCs) contamination in South America is focused on sand/rocky environments; estuarine areas have not yet been investigated. Imposex is an important tool to evaluate OTC contamination. The aim of the present study was to assess the sensitivity of a typical estuarine species to OTC contamination and to biomonitor the spatial extent of such compounds in the estuary. Sampling was conducted along the Ceará River estuary (north-eastern Brazil) and imposex expression was quantified in Nassarius vibex females. Imposexed females developed small papillae or penis, with smaller lengths compared to males. Passive monitoring was conducted on 10 sampling stations around 2 shipyards using imposex quantification indices. Imposex percentage in the population ranged from 0 to 33.3% and relative penis length index ranged from 0 to 26.4%. The present research is the first application of N. vibex as a bioindicator of organotin compounds in Brazil.

A juvenile female blue shark, Prionace glauca, 98 cm of total length and weighing 3 kg, was caught on 18 October 2008 off the Altınoluk coast. An adult female, 350 cm of total length and weighing 100 kg, was caught on 16 August 2009 off the Ayvacık coast. Available data suggest the following facts: (1) the rarity of the blue shark in the studied area; (2) P. glauca enters fishery in the studied area in the first year of life; and (3) coastal trammel- and gill-netting is a serious threat to the survival of the young populations of the species in Edremit Bay.

During the Antarctic summers of 2002–2003 and of 2005–2006, the Spanish BENTART cruises were conducted to the Bellingshausen Sea (west Antarctica) aiming to get a complete picture of the benthic communities of the area. To achieve it, 30 stations were selected, from depths ranging from 100 to 2000 m. In order to characterize the infaunal, epifaunal and suprabenthic components of the communities various different sampling gears were used at each station. As a part of the obtained material, some spionid individuals were identified as belonging to a species never before recorded from the Austral Ocean, Aonidella cirrobranchiata.

The amphipod Abludomelita aculeata, previously known from the western Mediterranean and the Lusitanian region of the eastern Atlantic, is reported for the first time from the eastern Mediterranean. The record is based on two adult males collected off İzmir, Turkey.

The present study reports the first occurrence of Ophionereis dolabriformis for Brazil and increases its bathymetric distribution upwards to 14 m. The specimens examined were from the States of Paraíba and Bahia, in north-eastern Brazil. Descriptions, geographical distributions and ecological notes about the species are provided.

A single male specimen of Ogyrides mjoebergi was captured on 28 September 2005, in the Gulf of Antalya. With this new locality, this species seems to have started to spread to a wider area by the Levantine Sea coasts in Turkey.

Specimens of Say's mud crab Dyspanopeus sayi, including ovigerous females, were identified in the estuarine part of Constanţa Harbour during early September 2009. Native to the Atlantic coast of North America, until now D. sayi was introduced in Britain and in the northern Adriatic, where it became abundant and is spreading. The considered vector to the Black Sea is via shipping from the northern Adriatic (Ravenna). The crab already has a well-established population in the Romanian Black Sea and it might spread to the whole of the Black and Azov Seas and the adjacent estuaries, deltas and limans.

Nine specimens belonging to four separate species and two genera from Davis Strait and Hudson Strait exceeded the known maximum recorded sizes for their associated species. New size records are given for Bathypolypus pugniger, B. bairdii, B. arcticus and Cirroteuthis muelleri. All individuals were found within the same basin (532 to 1453 m) within Davis Strait with the exception of B. arcticus which was found along the trench (284 to 388 m) that runs through the middle of Hudson Strait. Six large sized Gonatus fabricii were also found in the same region of Davis Strait, but did not exceed the maximum size of 385 mm, a female caught in the Norwegian Sea. Since these two regions are the only areas where such large individuals were found, we speculate that these areas are of particular interest as potential spawning sites and are oceanographically and biologically favourable for the maintenance of large individuals.

The amphipod (Crustacea: Peracarida) epibionts of the sea turtles Caretta caretta and Chelonia mydas were studied in the Gulf of Gabès. A total of eight amphipod species were identified, with Hyale grimaldii and Caprella andreae by far the most common. Among these species, Ericthonius punctatus and Ampithoe riedli are recorded for the first time as epibionts of Caretta caretta and Chelonia mydas, respectively, in the Mediterranean Sea.

The family Patellidae has been recognized as a complex taxonomic group for many years and its poor fossil record has complicated the study of the group. One of these limpet species, Cymbula nigra has its distributional range from Namibia to the Mediterranean and two varieties of Cymbula nigra (formerly named Patella nigra) have been reported: Patella nigra plumbea (typical form widely spread) and Patella nigra ghananis (variety from Ghana). The results of the present study clearly show that some specimens from Ghana reported as Cymbula nigra belong to a different species. In fact, this species is closely related to Cellana toreuma from Java (Indonesia), whereas specimens from Java appear as a distinct and cryptic species of Cellana toreuma distributed in Japan to Hong Kong. The specimens from Ghana could have been recently introduced in West Africa from the Indian Ocean. It represents the first record of the genus Cellana in the Atlantic. Furthermore, the variety described as Patella nigra ghananis in the previous literature probably were specimens of this new Cellana species.

Scrawled filefish Aluterus scriptus (55.5 cm total length) was recorded for the first time off the Argentinean coast. The presence of this tropical specimen was correlated with warm sea surface temperatures at the time it was caught. Photographs and morphometrics of the specimen are provided.