The biology of the catfish Cnidoglanis macrocephalus (Plotosidae) in an Australian estuary

This paper describes the age structure, growth, diet and aspects of gonadal development in the cobbler, Cnidoglanis macrocephalus (Valenciennes), in the large Swan estuary in south-western Australia between August 1982 and June 1984. Analysis of otolith annuli showed that while the 0+ to 3+ age classes were regularly represented in monthly samples, the 4+ and more particularly the 5+ and 6+ were much less abundant. The weighted means for the back calculated lengths at the end of the first to fourth years of life were 181 mm (≡ 26 g), 314 mm (≡ 156 g), 418 mm (≡ 410 g) and 518 mm (≡ 833 g) respectively. The mean length at the end of the second year of life was similar to the minimum legal size for capture by commercial fishermen (320 mm). The von Bertlanffy growth curve calculated from the back calculated lengths was L_t = 917 [1 − e^{−0·20(t + 0·11)}]. The relative weight of mulluscs, crustaceans and polychaetes in the intestine varied markedly between small and large fish, apparently reflecting differences in the size of these prey. The large mean diameter of mature eggs ( ) was correlated with a low mean absolute fecundity (2078). Trends shown by egg size, gonadosomatic index and time of appearance of spent females indicate that spawning takes place between October and December. The attainment of sexual maturity is both age- and size-dependent. Although sexually maturing and occasionally spent fish were found in the lower estuary, meristic values, commercial catch statistics and other data indicate that the cobbler found in the Swan estuary are part of a population which typically spawns at sea.     

日照沿海开发对潮间带生境及底栖动物群落的影响

日照市位于山东省东南的黄海之滨，海岸线长99.6km，沿海滩涂面积约51km2。自1983年起，笔者每年都带学生到日照沿海进行专业实习。本文是作者对近20年实习资料的总结。结果发现：由于沿海的开发利用，潮间带动物的群落结构发生巨变，生物种群数量正逐年减少。     

An East-West Comparison of the Transition Zone Coastal Pelagic Nekton of the North Pacific Ocean

During the 1980s and 1990s, scientific research cruises were conducted in both the eastern and western boundary regions of the North Pacific Ocean. The main purpose of these cruises was to examine the abundance and distribution patterns of juvenile salmon in coastal waters. These studies created one of the most extensive databases ever collected on the species composition of coastal Transition Zone epipelagic nekton in the North Pacific Ocean. Catch data from two purse seine and two surface trawl surveys (one each from off northern Japan and eastern Russia and off the West Coast of the U.S.) were examined using multivariate techniques to analyze the community structure of nektonic cephalopods, elasmobranchs, and teleosts in the coastal zone during the summer and autumn months. Juvenile salmonids are generally among the most common species caught, but in terms of overall abundance, other potential competitors with juvenile salmon, such as small squids and clupeoid fishes predominated the catches. Species diversity and dominance varied among areas and gear types. Distinct assemblages were found in each area, but the two regions had closely related species occupying similar ecological positions in each habitat. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Characteristics of Habitats Used by Enteroctopus dofleini in Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet,Alaska

Abstract. Habitat characteristics associated with the giant Pacific octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini (Wülker 1910), were studied in Prince William Sound and Port Graham, Alaska, from beach walk, SCUBA and submersible surveys at depths of 0 to 197 m. Octopus counts on beach walk transects were positively correlated with soft substrates (sand, gravel or broken rubble), the presence of boulders, and dense kelp cover immediately offshore of the transect; and negatively correlated with depth on SCUBA transects. No significant habitat correlations were found with counts on submersible transects. On beach walks, octopus counts were reduced on hard substrates to 38 % of the counts on soft substrates. Counts increased five‐fold in the presence of boulders over counts in their absence, and increased fifteen‐fold adjacent to dense (> 75 %) kelp cover over counts adjacent to sparse (< 25 %) kelp cover. On SCUBA transects, the average density at less than 5 m depth was over five times that below 5 m. No trends in octopus size or sex ratio were detected with depth. Den use was inversely correlated with depth although there was no indication that den availability declined with depth. Octopuses were found at densities from 0 to 2.5 per 1000 m². These densities were only 1 to 50 % of densities of the same species recorded in British Columbia in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Few data are available to test recruitment, mortality, and habitat selection hypotheses that would account for differences between habitats. However, the presence of the highest octopus densities in intertidal and very shallow subtidal areas indicates the likely importance of near‐shore, shallow‐water habitats, and highlights the vulnerability of octopus populations to changes in these habitats.     

Experimental analysis of recruitment patterns of coral reef fishes in seagrass beds: Effects of substrate type, shape, and rigidity

Habitat choice of reef fish larvae at settlement is one of the mechanisms proposed to explain spatial patterns in the distribution of fishes and the corresponding spatial structure of communities. Field experiments using Pomacentridae were conducted at Iriomote Island, southern Japan, in order to determine if rare recruitment of coral reef fishes in seagrass beds is due to larval settlement preference. When three types of natural patch treatments (branching coral patch, seagrass patch, and control without patches) were established in cleared seagrass squares in the center of a seagrass bed, four pomacentrid species, Amblyglyphidodon curacao, Dischistodus prosopotaenia, Cheiloprion labiatus, and Dascyllus aruanus, recruited exclusively onto the coral patches, indicating that larvae distributed in the seagrass bed may have preferred a coral rather than seagrass substrate as a settlement habitat. The effects of differences in physical shape (grid structure for branching coral vs. vertical structure for seagrass leaves) and rigidity (rigid substrate for coral vs. flexible substrate for seagrass) between coral and seagrass substrates on such recruitment patterns were investigated using artificial coral and seagrass units. When artificial habitat units with predator exclusion cages were established in the cleared seagrass squares as above, high densities of A. curacao and D. prosopotaenia recruits were observed on the rigid rather than flexible habitat units (both unit types having similar shape), whereas differences in recruit numbers of the two species were unclear in differently shaped units. These results demonstrated that even though pomacentrid larvae are distributed in the seagrass bed, they do not settle on the seagrass substrate owing to their habitat choice being partially based on a preference for substrate rigidity. Moreover, non-recruitment of C. labiatus and D. aruanus on artificial habitat units suggested that the presence of living coral substrates rather than physical shape/rigidity of substrates are an important cue for habitat choice of these fishes.     

黄河口及渤海中南部沉积特征变化及其环境动力分析

渤海中南部沉积类型及其分布受海底地形、水动力条件和物质来源影响 ,具有明显的分区多样性。而黄河巨大的输沙量进入渤海南部 ,其运移和扩散对这一地区沉积物的分布产生很大的影响。本文通过对不同时期底质情况的对比 ,说明研究区海底沉积的分布格局受到黄河河口不断向海延伸的影响在最近十几年中发生了很大的变化。而河口区的底质分布还受到最近几年黄河断流 ,水沙来量减少的深刻影响。