Six juvenile sperm whales were observed visually and acoustically in the confined waters of Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands during March 1993. General visual behaviours observed included slow travelling, head-outs, logging and side fluking but there were no observations of tail fluking within the confines of Scapa Flow. Recordings of the whales' vocalizations through hydrophones revealed a remarkably wide repertoire including clicks, rapid clicks, gunshots, chirrups, creaks, short trumpets, pips, squeals and clangs. Selected examples of these sounds were digitized and analysed as spectrograms. Clicks, rapid clicks, gunshots and clangs all showed a characteristic impulsive broadband signature. Chirrups, short trumpets and creaks were composed of rapid sequences of broadband impulses, although creaks were invariably faint and were difficult to illustrate well. Chirrups, short trumpets and clangs showed strong spectral peaks and pips were particularly unusual sounds with impulsive narrowband signatures composed of harmonically spaced peaks. Squeals exhibited prolonged, narrowband swept frequency signatures often with slight oscillation. All types of vocalization with the exception of clangs were heard from sperm whales during pure observation, minimum disturbance encounters in the field. Two attempts were made to remove the whales from Scapa Flow, the first being an enticement operation to lure the whales to open water with the use of underwater playback of sounds of socializing female sperm whales and the second a shepherding operation to drive the whales with a flotilla of vessels. The enticement operation was unsuccessful but the shepherding operation was successful, although the whales showed considerable reluctance to navigate a narrow channel to the open sea. During the shepherding operation there was a distinct change in the nature of the whales' vocalizations, with clangs predominating over other forms.

Abiotic and biotic aspects of the covering behaviour of the purple sea urchin, Paracentrotus lividus (Echinodermata: Echinoidea) were systematically examined in situ and in the laboratory to analyse potential intra-population differences in the nature of this behaviour. In the field, significant differences in the occurrence of covering behaviour were found between age groups. Smaller P. lividus covered at higher frequencies than larger individuals. Higher proportions of individuals were also observed to cover during afternoon sampling periods. Significant differences in the types of covering material used were found between P. lividus observed in the laboratory and in the field. These findings suggest that the benefits and/or opportunities of covering behaviour may change with size and habitat.

The second half of the nineteenth century was a period of rapid change in the natural sciences in Britain, reflecting changes in social conditions and improvements in education. A growing number of naturalists were becoming socially conscious and aware of the need for a proper study of the sea and its products, following the success of the ‘Challenger’ Expedition of 1872–6. In 1866 the Royal Commission on the Sea Fisheries, which included among its officers Professor T. H. Huxley, one of the new breed of professional scientists, had reported that fears of over-exploitation of the sea-fisheries were unfounded, and had recommended doing away with existing laws regulating fishing grounds and closed seasons. Nevertheless, the rising trade in fresh fish carried to towns by rail or by fast boats (fleeting), and the consequent increase in size and number of registered fishing vessels, was causing widespread concern, and there were reports from all round the coasts about the scarcity of particular fish, especially soles. This concern was expressed at the International Fisheries Exhibition in London in 1883, a conference called to discuss the commercial and scientific aspects of the fishing industry, attended by many active and first-rank scientists. However, in his opening address Professor Huxley discounted reports of scarcity of fish, and repeated the views of the Royal Commission of 1866: that, with existing methods of fishing, it was inconceivable that the great sea fisheries, such as those for cod, herring and mackerel, could ever be exhausted.

A new virus that infects the harmful algal bloom-forming microalga Phaeocystis globosa was isolated from surface water in the English Channel off the coast of Plymouth, UK, in May 2001. Phylogenetic analysis of the DNA polymerase gene revealed the virus isolate, designated PgV-102P, belongs to the family Phycodnaviridae, a group of large double-stranded DNA viruses known to infect algae. Basic characterization of PgV-102P revealed it was a lytic virus with a relatively slow culture lysis period of 10-days. The genome size (176 kbp) and capsid diameter (98 nm) of PgV-102P fall at the bottom end of the range expected for phycodnaviruses. Interestingly, PgV-102P did not cluster with other P. globosa viruses; instead, it was more closely related to other prymnesioviruses that infect the marine prymnesiophyte Chrysochromulina brevifilum. We discuss the effectiveness of DNA polymerase as a diagnostic marker. Although it is ideal for determining what family or even genus an algal virus belongs to, it is clear that the DNA polymerase gene does not have sufficient resolution when looking for relationships within algal virus genera.

Analyses of sea water collected during 1958 at the International Hydrographic Station E1 (lat. 50° 02′ N., long. 4° 22′ W.) are given here in the same form as in earlier reports (Armstrong, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1958; Armstrong & Butler, 1959). The methods of collection and analysis remain the same. Salinities were determined by the Government Chemist, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. We wish again to thank Lt.-Cdr. C. A. Hoodless, D.S.C., and the crew of R.V. ‘Sarsia’, and Capt. W. J. Creese and the crew of R.V. ‘Sula’ for help at sea.

Three species of Distaplia from the Mediterranean are described: D. bermudensis is a species introduced from the western Atlantic Ocean, which principally differs from the native D. magnilarva in having hermaphroditic zooids. The new species D. lucillae differs from the preceding ones in the structure of its stomach wall which is regularly plicated both externally and internally. Distaplia lucillae has colonies with hermaphroditic, but only male ripe, zooids and exclusively female colonies; this is a condition closely related to D. magnilarva though different. A key to European Distaplia is provided.

A bottom-sampler is described for use under open-sea conditions, particularly where the bottom is of sand or coarser material.

It takes a sample of 1/20m.2 area of semicircular cross-section and maximum depth 15 cm. There is probably little loss of material while hauling and no danger of the apparatus losing soil through being wedged open by shell fragments, etc. The instrument weighs over 45 kg. and is weighted to n o kg. in use.

In this study we examined the epibiont assemblage on shells of the living limpet Patella aspera. Limpets were collected at two sites at each of the nine islands of the Azores, totalling 707 individuals examined. Shells were measured and all the epibiota identified to the lowest taxonomic resolution possible. 190 taxa were recorded, of which 97% were algae, including 17 new records for the Azores. Only five shells were devoid of fouling organisms. The assemblage was dominated by a few algal taxa, whereas the majority of species occurred on less than 10% of the shells. A significant and positive relationship was generally found between basibiont size (shell length) and epibiota richness. The strength (slope) of the relationship, however, varied between islands and sites. These results suggest that a range of processes operating at multiple spatial scales influenced epibiont assemblages. Many features identified in these assemblages resemble, in many ways, those examined in island biogeography, suggesting that basibionts may be considered as ‘islands’ and may provide a suitable model system to test ecological hypotheses about ecosystems that are not so amenable to experimentation.

The Mediterranean parrotfish Sparisoma cretense is reported for the first time along the south-eastern coasts of Apulia (Ionian Sea, south-east Italy). Only juvenile specimens of S. cretense were observed during visual census surveys carried out in late August 2000, whereas adults were never observed in, or reported from, this region. Juvenile parrotfish were 3–4-cm long (TL), with a light-grey livery, pale-yellow heads and marked yellow margins around the eyes. They were recorded at 5–15 m depth, whereas they were absent near the surface (0–2 m depth) and in deeper areas (25–28 m depth). The possibility that climatic changes occurring in the Mediterranean basin (i.e. water warming) would be involved in the spreading of S. cretense outside its typical distribution range is discussed.

This paper describes a new asterinid starfish found first in southern Britain, but now also known from the Mediterranean and the Adriatic. Detailed comparison is made between the new species and the closely related Asterina gibbosa in terms of morphology, reproductive biology and life-history. The new species is adapted for life on the upper parts of rocks and on perennial algae in intertidal rock pools; it is small in size, matures early, lays large eggs, broods its young and has a short life span.

Gammarus zaddachi is perhaps the most prolific and widespread of all the estuarine amphipods known to occur in northern Europe, and inhabiting, as it does, the low-salinity estuarine zone and adjacent coasts, it has come to be recognized in recent ecological work as a ‘salinity indicator’.

Unfortunately, there has been constant confusion with the other common species of Gammarus, G. locusta, pulex, and duebeni, which has been greatly complicated by the difference in the appearance of zaddachi according as it lives in a freshwater or a saline habitat. It is shown that this difference is entirely due to the sensory equipment, the greater production of hairs in freshwater conditions, and that the structure of the two ‘forms’ is identical.

The history of the species has been carried back as far as I have been able to trace it (1836) with the actual specimens, described in the different papers, and the more important of these papers are discussed. It will be seen that the material examined was derived from every country of northern Europe; from Russia, the White Sea, Crimea, and the Baltic, the coasts of Scandinavia, Germany, including the Hamburg water-supply, Denmark, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Ireland, and France as far up the Loire as Nantes.

Detailed descriptions and figures of both forms of G. zaddachi are given; and finally, a comparison is made between the species most commonly confused with it, the Arctic species G. wilkitzkii being included because of a suggestion recently made that it might be, not a distinct species, but merely the Arctic form of zaddachi.

The distributions of four species of larval Ammodytidae in the Southern North Sea are described. Two separate broods of Ammodytes lancea larvae were found, in spring and autumn. The spring larvae occurred in the areas of the Thames and Wash, and the autumn type mainly off the French and Dutch coasts.

A description of these larvae is given. Larvae of Gymnamtnodytes semisquamatus were found in the Southern Bight area and in several areas off the Humber. Few larvae of Ammodytes lanceolatus were taken: they occurred in the Southern Bight and Dowsing areas. A. marinus larvae were found in two areas off the Humber and in the Southern Bight. There is evidence for a spawning area some distance to the west of the Dover Strait.

Caridean shrimps display a variety of sexual systems including gonochorism and various forms of protandry but rarely simultaneous hermaphroditism. Protandric simultaneous hermaphroditism (PSH) has thus far only been demonstrated in the genus Lysmata. The first report of simultaneous hermaphroditism in a caridean shrimp was with Exhippolysmata ensirostris. However, this was not confirmed, since this species was also considered to be strictly protandric. Therefore, inconclusive results about this species' true sexual system led us to examine Exhippolysmata oplophoroides. Mating between female phase individuals resulted in successful spawning, embryonic development and hatching of viable larvae. Furthermore, we have confirmed that this species is not capable of self-fertilization. Juveniles reared in the laboratory matured in a similar manner to that of Lysmata. Data were limited due to the loss of all individuals to a Vibrio infection. However, the results obtained in this study conclusively affirm functionally that PSH occurs outside the genus Lysmata, in E. oplophoroides. Theories examining the evolution of PSH within decapods must be re-examined in light of the present data.

In England the fisheries for both scallops (Pecten maximus) and queens (Chlamys opercularis) expanded rapidly in the 1970s. Considerable research has been undertaken to develop an effective method of surveying stocks of these species in order to assess the impact of this greatly increased fishing effort on commercial populations. Visual photographic surveys seemed likely to provide the best means of assessing populations (Pickett & Franklin, 1975) and this paper outlines the preliminary results obtained from such a system - a towed sledge carrying both television and still cameras, developed at the Plymouth Laboratory.

According to its mouthparts Calanoides carinatus is a herbivorous filter-feeder (Mensah, 1974a; Schnack, 1978) that is often associated with phytoplankton blooms. The species has been reported from the three oceans and the Mediterranean (Vervoort, 1946). Interest in this copepod is increasing due to its apparent importance as a dominant link between phytoplankton and fish in upwelling areas. Its presence in surface waters is regarded as an indication for upwelled water (Bainbridge, 1972; Binet, 1973). Population dynamics and life-cycle have been studied best on the West African shelf (Mensah, 1974b; Binet & Suisse St Claire, 1975; Petit & Courties, 1976; Binet, 1977). Courties (1978) has recently given a comprehensive review of the literature on C. carinatus. In the above-mentioned studies, generation time usually is estimated by measuring successive peaks of larval stages and adults as well as using sex ratio and length distribution. In spite of its importance, C. carinatus has not yet been successfully reared in the labora-tory. Tomasini & Petit (1977) determined experimentally the developmental time of eggs and some copepodite stages, but could not obtain all stages. Schnack (1978) studied the feeding behaviour in feeding and assimilation experiments using various species of algae on board ship.

This paper represents the first quantitative assessment of the distribution and abundance of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) inhabiting the waters around Lampedusa Island, Italy. Eleven years of photo-identification data, collected from 1996 to 2006 by three different research groups, were brought together, reviewed and analysed to fulfil the following objectives: (i) to obtain baseline information on the abundance and residency of the local bottlenose dolphin putative population; (ii) to review the current Marine Protected Area (MPA) boundaries, especially those referred to waters around Lampedusa Island, with a view to establish a new Special Area of Conservation (SAC); and (iii) to explore the potential and limits of analysing heterogeneous datasets to improve future data collection methods. The most resident dolphins were regularly observed in six specific areas around Lampedusa Island. From a total of 148 photo-identified bottlenose dolphins, 102 were classified as well-marked. The capture histories and the distribution of sightings clearly show a number of dolphins regularly use the study area. Best estimates for the first period within the ‘core study area’ were obtained for 1998 data. The 2005 estimate was significantly larger than the 1998 estimates (z = 2.160; P < 0.05) compared to that of 1998. Implications of our results for the current MPA, for transboundary conservation initiative involving Italy, Malta and Tunisia and for directing future research within and outside the MPA are fully discussed.

Cod (Gadus morhua L.) from the Arcto-Norwegian stock that spawns off northern Norway were caught at various times during the course of their gonadal maturation cycle, and plasma samples were collected for the determination of vitamin A compounds and lipids.

The main changes found concerned vitamin A aldehyde, which increased from a resting level of2μg/100 ml. plasma for adult females caught in September to 10 μ/100 ml. in ripe females caught in January-March approaching their spawning grounds; by contrast little change was observed in the males. In the fish of both sexes caught in September, just prior to the onset of maturation, dehydroretinal formed about 38 % of the total aldehyde, but in the plasma of ripe females the proportion was only 16 %. In both sexes there was a fairly steady decline in the levels of vitamin A esters and alcohol in the plasma during the winter. Similarly, the concentration of plasma lipids fell during the winter in the male cod, but in the adult females, during the period of ovarian maturation, the concentration of lipids increased and was maintained at about 0·5 g/100 ml. higher than in the males; in spent fish the concentration of lipids fell to the same low levels in both sexes.

It was considered that the changes in vitamin A aldehyde, and also of blood lipid, in the females were directly linked with sexual maturation, these compounds being transported to the developing eggs in the ovary. On the other hand, the general decline of vitamin A esters and alcohol in both sexes, and of lipids in the males, was probably due to the obligatory winter starvation which occurs in this stock.

Although the initial description of the northern rockling, Ciliata septentrionalis (Collett, 1875 a, b) was based on specimens collected off the Norwegian coast in the late nineteenth century, this species was not recorded from British waters until 1960, when a specimen was found in the Clyde Sea area (Bagenal, 1961). Subsequently, northern rockling have been recorded by Wheeler (1965, 1968) from the Moray Firth and in the waters off the Isle of Man and Southern Ireland, and by Dando (1975) from the Plymouth area. A single specimen has also been captured in a rock pool on the Yorkshire coast (Wheeler, 1971). The only investigation into the biology of C. septentrionalis has been conducted by Dando (1975), who obtained the fish from the Plymouth area, both by trawling and from cod stomachs. He outlined the early development of the egg and larva, and suggested that the northern rockling had greatly increased in abundance in the Plymouth region since 1968.

Evidence from animals dug up on the shore, from observations on burrowing, or from shell shape indicates that the following species normally lie below the surface with their right valve uppermost: Tellina squalida, T. tenuis, T. fabula, T. donacina, and Arcopagia crassa. Information on the habits of the remaining Tellinidae has not been obtained.

Animals placed on the surface of the soil with the left side up turn themselves over as they burrow. In Arcopagia the shell is turned over beyond the vertical before the animal enters the substratum, but in the remaining species studied the shell is gradually turned over so that it disappears below the surface almost vertically and subsequently completes the turning movement beneath the surface.

The disposition of the siphons of Arcopagia may differ somewhat from that of T. tenuis as described by Yonge, and there is a need for further observation on the siphons of the other species.

Differentiation between two samples of the polychaete Perinereis cultrifera collected in a brackish-water habitat and in an adjacent marine site at Elba Island (Italy) was assessed by morphological (number of paragnaths on the zones of the pharynx) and genetic (allozymes) approaches. Mean number of paragnaths differed significantly in zones IIl, IIr, III and V by t-test (P<0·05). Multidimensional scaling performed on Manhattan distances separated the individuals in two groups with a narrow zone of juxtaposition. Electrophoretic analyses of 22 allozyme loci revealed high levels of both within- and between-sample genetic heterogeneity, with a large number of private alleles. A general deficit of heterozygotes accounted for deviations from the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. Nei's genetic distance (D=0·185±0·018) and the mean value of the coancestry coefficient (Θ=0·381± 0·123, P<0·001 by permutation test) indicated considerable genetic divergence between the two samples. We concluded that the two groups can be assigned to sibling species. The observed divergence between the two samples may results from absence of gene flow and subsequent microallopatric differentiation through genetic drift, or, assuming migration between populations of the two sites, the model of divergence with gene flow may be compatible with this system.