The development of sensitive fluorimetric techniques for continuous in vivo measurements of chlorophyll ‘a’ (Lorenzen, 1966) has made it possible to study in detail the vertical distribution of phytoplankton in lakes and seas (e.g. Strickland, 1970; Berman & Pollingher, 1974; Lasker, 1975; Fasham & Pugh, 1976; Pingree et al. 1976). However, for marine environments there is little compatible data, such as given by Lasker (1977), on the species composition of localized phytoplankton populations. This is an important gap in our knowledge since the variations shown by different algal taxa in attributes such as nutrient requirements, growth rates, adaption to light, and palatability to zooplankton have wide ecological implications.

A map of the Looe Estuary in south-east Cornwall is shown in Fig. 1. As it flows to the western branch of the estuary, the West Looe River passes through the Herodsfoot mining area which lies about 5 km above Sowden's Bridge. By Cornish standards, this was a productive area for lead and Dewey (1921) gives the output of Herodsfoot mine as 13470 tons of metal between 1848 and 1884 and more than 17 tons of silver between 1853 and 1884.

The three new species to be described below are the first of a considerable series of related forms, recently isolated from marine plankton off the British coasts and possessing in common a number of rather unusual characters which make their classification difficult. They are all very small and extremely fragile unicellular flagellates, with the characteristic golden brown plastid colour and metabolic products found in the Chrysophyceae to which they undoubtedly belong. Within this group their placing is more difficult and it cannot even be adequately discussed until the whole range of new forms is available for comparison. The most that we can do on this occasion is to make some provisional generic comparisons in order to establish a system of nomenclature. Unfortunately, existing descriptions of relevant genera are both scanty and incomplete, a defect which is easily explained by the nature of the organisms and the need for special facilities for their adequate study.

Arsenic concentrations in estuarine sediments from England and Wales range over three orders of magnitude. The highest concentrations, up to 2500 μg/g, occur in the sediments of estuaries in south west England associated with past or present metalliferous mining activity. Strong correlations exist between arsenic and iron in 1 N-HC1 extracts of different estuarine sediments. The As/Fe ratio in those estuaries not contaminated with mine wastes is 11 × 10−4, increasing to 190 × 10—4 in metalliferous sediments.

Some preliminary observations in North Cornwall (Orton, 1946) showed that the periods of breeding of the three British species of limpets were different. In order to determine these differences more accurately, and to study the breeding cycle, samples of limpets from six localities in Britain were examined at regular intervals for 5 years. This paper gives the results obtained for the common limpet Patella vulgata, which was present at all the localities sampled and was the most intensively studied of the three species. Later papers will deal with the remaining species and with other aspects of the investigations.

Viral burst size (BS), i.e. the number of viruses released during cell lysis, is a critical parameter for assessing the ecological and biogeochemical role of viruses in aquatic systems. Burst size is typically estimated by enumerating the viral particles in bacteria using transmission electron microscopy. Here, we review the average BS reported for different aquatic systems, present several hypotheses on the control of the BS and evaluate whether there are relationships between BS and bacterial activity parameters across systems. Based on reports from a variety of different aquatic environments, we calculated a mean BS of 24 and 34 for marine and freshwater environments, respectively. Generally, the BS increased with the trophic status of the environment and with the percentage of infected cells in marine populations. When diel dynamics were investigated or averages from large-scale environments were used, BS was positively related to bacterial production but no trend was detectable across systems. The across systems' finding that BS was significantly related to the frequency of infected cells (FIC) could be due to co-infection or superinfection. At any given site, BS seems to be influenced by a number of factors such as the size of the host cell and the viruses, the metabolic activity of the host and phage and host diversity. Thus, based on the available data collected over the past two decades on a variety of aquatic systems, some relations between BS and bacterial variables were detectable.

Material collected prior to 1940 indicates that Elminius modestus was not present on British coasts at that time.

Elminius increased in abundance in south-east England from 1946 to 1950 and extended its range as far as the Humber, where it halted.

Its advance westwards along the south coast was similarly halted at Portland, but by 1948 independent colonies had been established in several of the river systems of Devon and Cornwall, in Milford Haven, and in the Bristol Channel.

The first populations in the Irish Sea were in Morecambe Bay. From there Elminius spread rapidly south and west along the north coast of Wales, and more slowly north and west towards Galloway, eventually bridging the sea to the Isle of Man.

Detailed observations showed that Elminius advanced along the uniformly favourable north coast of Wales as a definite front moving at a rate of approximately 20–30 km per year. Around Anglesey where tidal currents were stronger it appeared simultaneously in many scattered centres.

A distinction is drawn between marginal dispersal taking place under the influence of normal agencies at the boundary of an existing population, and remote dispersal due to an artificial or freak transport over a long distance. In the case of Elminius the maximum distance that is likely to be bridged by marginal dispersal in the absence of strong residual drifts is about 30 miles.

Elminius probably first appeared near Southampton, and was introduced into the Thames estuary area probably by remote dispersal. Thence it spread along the east coast and was transported to Holland. Its extension into south Devon, the Bristol Channel, the Irish Sea, and to the French coast must also be attributed to remote dispersal.

The main ecological effects of Elminius result from competition for space with Balanus balanoides. Since Elminius breeds in summer, its dominance has a profound effect on the composition of the summer plankton, greatly increasing the number of barnacle nauplii, presumably at the expense of other larvae.

Heterotrophic protists, mostly flagellates, encountered in association with marine detritus from various collections in the mid North Atlantic are described. About 40 species have been identified and are reported. Taxa reported here for the first time are: Caecitellus gen. nov. (Protista incertae sedis) and Ministeria marisola gen. nov., sp. nov. (Protista incertae sedis). The flagellates form a subset of the community of heterotrophic marine flagellates encountered in more productive marine sites. Most species are bacterivorous and small. The community extends to the ocean floor but the diversity is reduced in samples taken from greater depths. The decline in species diversity is linked also to a decline in numbers of individuals. We discuss these changes in relation to food supply and pressure effects.

Viral infection of bacteria causes release of dissolved organic matter (DOM), which is available for bacterial uptake. In aquatic environments, this virus-mediated transformation of living cells into dissolved and colloidal organic matter may be a quantitatively important process in the pelagic recycling of carbon and nutrients, but little is known about the amount, composition, or bioavailability of viral lysates. By using a model system of a marine bacterium (Cellulophaga sp.) and a virus specific to this bacterium, the present study provides a first quantification of the input of dissolved free and combined amino acids (DFAA and DCAA) and bacterial cell wall compounds following viral lysis. The DCAA constituted 51–86% of the total virus-mediated organic carbon release of 1087–1825 μg C l−1 (estimated biomass of the lysed bacteria), whereas DFAA and glucosamine each accounted for 2–3% of total lysate-C. The viral particles themselves constituted 4–6% of the released organic carbon, and altogether, the applied analyses thus identified 53–92% of the released lysates. Approximately 12% of the identified compounds were derived from bacterial cell wall peptidoglycan, including various D-isomers of DFAA and DCAA, glucosamine and diaminopimelic acid (DAPA). Although a portion of this cell wall material may have entered the pool of refractory material, a significant fraction of some peptidoglycan-derived components, e.g. 83% of the released D-DFAA, were removed from the dissolved phase during the last part of the incubations, suggesting that part of the cell wall material were utilized by the developing virus-resistant Cellulophaga population. Therefore, we suggest that virus-mediated DOM is a source of a variety of organic compounds, which contribute significantly to the pool of rapidly recycling material in the ocean.

Comparatively little is known about the factors affecting egg-laying in Calanus. Deductions from work in the field have been made by Nicholls (1933a, b) and Marshall, Nicholls & Orr (1934), and experimental work in the laboratory has been done by Raymont & Gross (1942).

Emgg-LayingInCalanus

The anatomy of the reproductive system has been described in detail by Lowe (1935). In the female there is a pair of diverticula extending from the proximal end of the oviduct into the head region, and into this the developing eggs pass. Each diverticulum has a dorsal and a ventral channel, and the eggs pass from the dorsal into the ventral channel and then into the oviduct proper. The oviduct rises from the forward end of the ovary and crosses the body laterally and ventrally so that a short part of it can be clearly seen.

This paper reports the first phase of an extended exercise in benthic ecology, involving both long- and short-term aims. The short-term aim is to examine the benthic fauna of representative substrate types for a period of a year and to compute the net secondary production of the infaunal macrofauna in terms of ash-free dry weight per square metre per annum. The intention is to identify from among the bulk of species those animals which have the highest productive capacity, to rank these in order of productive importance, and finally to give our best estimate of the production of the animal assemblage as a whole.

During 1946 and 1947, regular samples of Mytilus edulis from a number of localities ontheBritish coasts, including Conway, Brancaster and Liverpool, were examined for gonad conditionand spawning. For each sample, the mean stage of gonad development was computed. The criteria employed in distinguishing the stages of gonad development are described.

Ripening of the gonads takes place within a few weeks of the onset of spawning, in general commencing when the sea temperature has risen above 7–0° C. There appears to be no correlation between nutritional condition and ripening of the gonads, or subsequent spawning.

In all localities and in each year in which observations were made spawning occurred in late spring (mid-April to the end of May) and in most areas lasted for a short period only (2–4 weeks). At Brixham, in 1949 and 1950, the duration of the spawning period was longer (4-6 weeks). In most cases, 70–80% of the mature population spawned during the first 7–10 days of the breeding period. No evidence of periodic spawning was obtained.

In all cases, spawning commenced in a period during which the mean temperature to which the mussels were exposed was rising from c. 9–5° C. to 11–12–5° C. In most cases, the onset of spawning was coincident with a period of spring tides, and of predominantly bright sunny weather. The initial rate of spawning appears to be directly related to the rate of increase in mean temperature to which the mussels are exposed.

After spawning, mussels enter into a ‘neuter’ or ‘resting spent’ stage in which all traces of sexuality are lost.

In many if not most species of crabs (but not quite all) there is a limit to growth, when no more moulting or ecdysis is possible in normal circumstances. This condition of permanent anecdysis is known as the terminal anecdysis. In the spider crab Maia squinado, the last moult is the moult of puberty, when the animal finally attains sexual maturity, and this moult has different biometrical characteristics from the others. In Carcinus maenas, in contrast, the moult of puberty takes place when the animal is quite small and may be succeeded by about ten further moults before the terminal anecdysis begins.

The immediate cause of the cessation of moulting in Maia squinado is shown to be the degeneration of the Y-organ, which secretes a moult-promoting hormone. In the absence of this gland and its secretion moulting can no longer continue. In Carcinus the Y-organ does not degenerate after the final ecdysis and the cause of the cessation of moulting is to be sought in the excessive production by the X-organ-sinus gland complex of the moultinhibiting hormone. This effectively prevents moulting from proceeding Removal of the X-organ-sinus gland complex in Carcinus allows ecdysis to continue, so that giant crabs can be produced in the laboratory by this means, and at the same time the life-span may be increased. The operation has no such effect on Maia. In either species injection of Y-organ extracts produces transiently the first signs of an approaching moult, in the form of a heightened blood-calcium level. In Carcinus repeated injection led to eventual ecdysis. The presence of the Y-organ is shown to be necessary for removal of the X-organ-sinus gland complex to stimulate moulting in Carcinus.

Two separate methods of producing terminal anecdysis exist in crabs, both involving the hormones which normally regulate the moult cycle, but no reason is known for the existence of the phenomenon.

In a recent publication in this Journal I presented a set of seven equations effecting to describe from a single set of constants any chemostat steady state of the flagellate Monochrysis lutheri in terms of phosphorus and vitamin B12 without prejudice as to which was rate limiting, given only the input concentrations of the two nutrients and the dilution rate of the chemostat (Droop, 1974, equations 23–29). There was nothing inherent in this description to prevent its application to transient situations, and I felt that at least it should apply to the transitional phase of a batch culture. The aim of this paper, which is a continuation of the previous one, is to find out whether this is so and whether in fact the model can be adapted to describe the complete history of a batch culture, because if it can its value to predictive models for phytoplankton would be greatly enhanced.

The uptake, transport, storage and excretion of zinc has been studied in Mytilus edulis. Zinc accumulates in the soft tissues in proportion to its concentration in sea water whilst the concentration in the haemolymph is little above that in the environment. Uptake is via the gut, mantle and gills. The zinc is transported from the gills and gut (t½ ≈ 8 days) via the haemolymph, either as a high molecular weight complex or in the granular amoebocytes, to the kidney. Most of the body zinc is present in the granular amoebocytes (which are found in all the body tissues) or in the gut and kidney. The kidney forms the major storage organ for many trace metals, containing 30% of the body zinc and a concentration of about 1000 μg/g. Zinc is localized as insoluble granules in membranelimited vesicles occupying some 20% of the cell volume. Excretion of zinc is by defaecation, exocytosis of the kidney granules into the urine and diapedesis of the amoebocytes. A multicompartmental model for zinc metabolism which correlates the ultrastructural and kinetic data is proposed.

Six marine flagellates, used as food in the rearing of the larvae of Ostrea edulis L., are described.

One belongs to the Chlorophyceae, Pyramimonas grossii n.sp. (Polyblepharidaceae); four belong to the Chrysophyceae, Chromulina pleiades n.sp. (Chromulinaceae), Isochrysis galbana n.g., n.sp., Dicrateria inornata n.g., n.sp., D. gilva n.g., n.sp. (Isochrysidaceae); and one belongs to the Cryptophyceae, Hemiselmis rufescens n.g., n.sp. (Nephroselmidaceae).

A form of reproduction in a palmelloid phase, not previously described, is recorded for the Isochrysidaceae.

An intensive investigation of the benthic biology of the Porcupine Seabight, to the south-west of Ireland, was carried out by biologists from the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Deacon Laboratory (IOSDL) between 1977 and 1986. More than 400 benthic samples were obtained during the study using towed gears and corersover the depth range 200 to 4500 m. Transect and time-lapse photography was used extensively. This paper summarises the techniques employed and provides an analysis of the depth and seasonal coverage. In addition a review is provided of available data on the physical, chemical and geological characteristics of the Porcupine Seabight area, including information collected during the IOSDL study. Finally, existing publications based on the study are listed.

Stomach contents of 533 jumbo squid, Dosidicus gigas, ranging between 14·5 and 87·5 cm dorsal mantle length were collected on a monthly basis in the central Gulf of California from November 1995 to April 1997. Fish prey were identified by sagittal otoliths, cephalopods by beaks and crustaceans by exoskeletal features. The diet was dominated by Benthosema panamense, an abundant near-shore nyctoepipelagic myctophid that forms dense aggregations. Another myctophid, Triphoturus mexicanus, several micronektonic squid, pelagic red crab and small pelagic fish such as northern anchovy and Pacific sardine played a secondary role. The largest differences in diet were due to spatial and monthly changes, while differences regarding squid size or sex were smaller. Prey size (averaging 5–7 cm) and prey number did not vary with size of jumbo squid. Jumbo squid in the slopes of the Guaymas basin feed on abundant schooling mesopelagic micronekton of annual nature with a quick response to environmental changes, which could partly explain the large annual fluctuations of this commercial resource.

The excess weight in sea water of the living tissues of Sepia officinalis (L.) is approximately balanced by the cuttlebone, which accounts for about 9·3% of the animal's volume. The density of cuttlebone varies around 0·6. The cuttlefish without its cuttlebone would be about 4% denser than sea water.

The chambers of the cuttlebone are independent of one another but liquids and gases are free to move within any one chamber.

Animals caught and studied fresh aboard ship exhibited a much less wide range of cuttlebone densities than those kept in an aquarium.

Specimens kept in aquaria vary greatly in buoyancy. These variations result from changes in density of the cuttlebone.

Cuttlebones differ not in the weight of dry matter per unit volume, which is always close to 38%, but in the amount of liquid they contain. A cuttlebone of density 0·7 contains about 30% liquid whereas a cuttlebone of density 0·5 contains about 10% liquid. The remainder of the cuttlebone contains gas, but this gas is at less than atmospheric pressure. The pressure of gas varies around 0·8 atmosphere. Within the duration of the experiments described here, the mass of gas per unit volume of bone remained almost constant whatever the bone's density. The pressure of gas is lower the less dense the cuttlebone. There can be no question of an evolution of gas expelling liquid from a bone when it becomes lighter. The constancy of the mass of gas within the cuttlebone is explained in terms of the slowness of diffusion of gases into the bone.

Mussels, Mytilus edulis L. grow on the shore and are cultured on ropes in Killary Harbour, a fjordic inlet on the Irish west coast. The food resource available to cultured mussels differs from that available to wild mussels on the shore. Although phytoplankton densities as estimated from chlorophyll a concentrations are similar, the shore environment in the inner part of the inlet is characterized by high mean POC concentrations. This is because of the presence of variable amounts ofallochthonous detrital carbon.

The annual cycles of flesh weight and ash content of wild and cultivated mussels were followed over two years. These cycles were related to the reproductive cycle observed by taking histological samples of mussel gonad, by plankton sampling for larvae and by monitoring larval settlement. Shell growth was measured in wild mussels by reading seasonal growth patterns on sectioned shells and in cultured mussels by following progress of the modal shell length of cohorts on ropes.

Wild mussels have a partial spawning in early spring and spawn completely in the summer. Cultured mussels spawn twice during the summer, in the year following settlement. Growth rate of wild mussels decreases with increasing aerial exposure. The fastest growing mussels, at o % exposure, take about 6 years to attain the length attained by the mode of the cultured mussels after 18 months, when they are harvested.

We conclude that wild mussels utilize a mix of phytoplankton and detritus as food during the summer and that large wild mussels can use detritus during the autumn and early winter for an increase in flesh weight and gametogenesis.