Mollusca from a recent coral community in Palliser bay,cook strait

From a trawling at 448–512 m in Palliser Bay, Cook Strait, New Zealand, molluscs associated with. Tertiary siltstone concretions and with a large colony of Goniocorella dumosa (Alcock) are listed. A juvenile Acesta, extremely tall and extremely broad forms of Emarginula striatula Quoy & Gaimard, and the animals of Stilifer neozelanica Dell and of Waipaoa marwicki Dell are described. Sculptifer, a new genus provisionally included in the Fossaridae, is proposed for Stilifer neozelanica. New species of Danilia and Pholadidea are described and their relationships discussed. Emarginula lophelia Beu, 1967 is synonymized with E. striatula Quoy & Gaimard, 1834, and the recent New Zealand forms of Emarginula are reviewed.     

Halosaurus pectoralis McCulloch (Pisces: Halosauridae) in the New Zealand region (note)

Halosaurus pectoralis McCulloch is recorded from off Gisborne, New Zealand, and from south‐east of Lord Howe Island, thus adding a second species of the order Heteromi to the New Zealand fauna.     

Microsporidan parasite Thelohania contejeani Henneguy from New Zealand freshwater crayfish

The sporozoan Thelohania contejeani Henneguy (Microsporida: Nosematidae) is recorded from Paranephrops zealandicus (White) for the first time. It is an intracellular parasite invading musculature throughout the crayfish, causing a gradual decrease in locomotor activity, and it may eventually cause the death of the host. Infected crayfish were found in the northern part of Leith Stream, Dunedin, where the infection rate reached a maximum of 20%. This parasite has formerly been recorded only from Northern Europe.     

Chlorophyll production,in response to nutrient additions,by the algae in Lake Taupo water

In batch cultures of Lake Taupo water, phosphorus was the nutrient limiting plant growth from January to June, and nitrogen took over this role from July to December. Chlorophyll production by algae was often stimulated by trace element additions, but it was uncertain whether total cytoplasmic production was also involved.     

Hydrolytic enzymes of the paua Haliotis iris,a marine gastropod (note).

Extracts of the viscera of Haliotis iris (Martyn, 1784) were shown to hydrolyse 2‐hydroxy‐5‐nitrophenyl sulphate at pH 5.5, and the p‐nitrophenyl derivatives of α‐ and β‐D‐galactose, α‐ and β‐D‐mannose, α‐L‐lucose, β‐D‐glucuronic acid, β‐N‐acetyl glucosamine and phosphate at pH 4.0 and 5.5: p‐nitrophenyl‐β‐L‐fucose was not hydrolysed.     

Reduction of a population of Canterbury mudfish,Neochanna burrowsius (Galaxiidae), by drovight

A population of Canterbury mudfish Neochanna burrowsius (Phillipps), estimated to exceed 3000 adults in July‐December 1975, and its habitat at Clearwell in mid Canterbury, are described. A 7 month drought nearly extinguished the population; this and the subsequent return migration (in August 1976) of survivors from a stockwater race are recorded.     

Fattening of wild short‐finned eels,Anguilla Australis schmidtii Phillipps

Short‐finned wild eels fed an artificial diet containing either a low (5%) or a high (20%) oil content were found to increase their mass by an average of more than 30% after a 34‐day feeding period; the lipid content of the eels’ muscle was also increased from about 10% to around 20%.     

Mathematical modelling of volcanic tsunamis

The height of widespread tsunami runup about the Bay of Plenty from various volcanic scenarios involving eruptions at White Island is shown to be insignificant in all cases considered, except for Krakatoa‐type explosions. The problem of localised inundation remains unanswered. Some definitions describing volcanic tsunami risk, introduced recently by J. Latter (Bulletin volcanologique 1982), are briefly mentioned. All numerical calculations assumed cylindrical symmetry and used a flux‐corrected Lax‐Wendroff algorithm to solve the modified shallow water equations of Peregrine.     

Intensified oxygen minimum zone on the western shelf of Bay of Bengal during summer monsoon: influence of river discharge

A study on biogeochemical cycling in the west coastal Bay of Bengal was undertaken during the peak discharge period to understand the influence of enhanced stratification and primary production on the possible intensification of the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). Our study reveals that oxygen concentrations were below the detection limits in the northwestern (NW) coastal Bay of Bengal between 100 and 500 m associated with strong stratification and high phytoplankton biomass. Such low oxygen concentrations have never been reported so far from the coastal Bay of Bengal. Despite the existence of an environment conducive to denitrification in the coastal Bay of Bengal, accumulation of neither secondary nitrite nor nitrous oxide (N₂O) was observed. The absence of denitrification was reported to be caused by faster scavenging of organic matter and low bacterial respiration rates; in contrast, our results suggest that neither of these factors are potential reasons for the absence of denitrification in the coastal Bay of Bengal.     

The coast between Cabo de Santa Maria (Portugal) and Rabat (Morocco): a mega-size headland-bay shoreline under control of the North Atlantic swell?

Equilibrium headland-bay beach systems have been mathematically described by logarithmic, parabolic and hyperbolic curve functions. The largest system of this type reported to date has a shoreline length of about 62 km. In the present study, an apparent headland-bay system is presented which has a shoreline length of about 500 km. It was discovered on satellite images, and is located between Cabo de Santa Maria in Portugal and the coastal city of Rabat in Morocco. It appears to be controlled by long-period North Atlantic swells diffracting around Cabo São Vicente at the south-western tip of Portugal, in combination with SW–SE wind wave climates impinging on the northern shoreline of Cádiz Bay. The coast shows two marked departures from the equilibrium shoreline along its central section north and south of the Strait of Gibraltar, which are easily explained. Thus, the promontories to the north of the strait still exist because there has not been sufficient time to erode these back to the equilibrium shoreline since postglacial sea-level recovery. The coastal indentation to the south is explained by an insufficient sediment supply from terrestrial sources to facilitate the required beach accretion. Perfectly adjusted planimetric headland-bay shoreline shapes represent situations where wave orthogonals approach the coast at right angles everywhere, i.e. there is no longer any alongshore sediment transport. Equilibrium shorelines form independently of the grain size of the beach sediment, whereas morphodynamic beach states are indirectly affected by the shoreline shapes because the latter are modulated by wave period and breaker height which also control the morphodynamic response of the beach in combination with the local grain size.