Nematode assemblages were studied from four sublittoral sites at 50–56 m depth in the Gulf of Maine, north-eastern coast of the USA, within the context of an open ocean aquaculture experimental site. All four sites, two potential impact and two control sites, had a similar muddy–sand bottom and low organic content. Seventy genera in 27 families were recorded from a total of 1072 individuals. All but one taxa could be related to known genera. Family Comesomatidae was the most dominant with close to a third (27·6%) of the total individuals. At the genus level Sabatieria and Setosabatieria were most dominant with a quarter of the total number of individuals. Composition of dominant families from the Gulf of Maine differed from all hitherto reported sublittoral or deep-sea communities from both sides of the Atlantic, and most similar with European estuaries.

Nematode diversity at the genus-level was reasonably high and was comparable with Mediterranean samples. Most diversity indices ordered the four sites similarly with Site 2 as the most diverse followed by Site 5 and then Site 6. By contrast the relative diversity of Site 4 depended on the index employed and its k-dominance curve crossed that of the others. Furthermore based on clustering the community at Site 4 was least similar to the others. Although these observations could be related to the fact that Site 4 is within the expected impact zone of the fish cage, the low number of fish introduced by the time of sampling and the lack of any difference in the maturity index among all the sites argue that these results can be considered before-impact data for further monitoring of the open ocean aquaculture experiment.

A new paradigm where morphological information is documented and communicated using digital multifocal images is introduced. Each video image is comparable with visualization of a specimen under a microscope where the movie can be played back and forth to mimic focusing through a specimen. Web-based and openly accessible digital multifocal images were used to document and effectively communicate the morphology of all the identified genera in this study. This approach for documenting and communicating survey results is proposed as a benchmark for future similar studies that would enhance standardization and quality control of meiofaunal taxonomy, ecology and biodiversity studies.

The swimming behaviour and photoresponses of the iridescent epipelagic copepods, Sapphirina gastrica and S. opalina were investigated in the laboratory. In continuous dark conditions, both species showed no significant diel variation in their swimming activities. When stimulated with light, they exhibited spiral-swimming in which the males showed a significantly higher speed and frequency of turning than the females. Both sexes of S. gastrica and S. opalina showed positive phototaxis at intensities higher than 0·05×1014 quanta  cm−2 s−1 for light sources of 430 nm and 580 nm. Sapphirina gastrica showed increased locomotion over a broad range of wavelengths from 430 nm to 580 nm, while S. opalina showed a gradual increase of activity with decreasing wavelength, with the highest value at 430 nm. The photoresponses of these two species suggest that light conditions play an important role in their daytime ascent and in determining the depth distributions that were observed in our previous study. It is suggested that the iridescence and fast spiral-swimming of males, and the species-specific photoresponses of both sexes constitute a putative mate recognition system in the open ocean.

Species of the genera Progoniada and Goniadella are recorded from off the Brazilian coast, from depths of 93 to 808 m. The description of Progoniada regularis is complemented with new data on the number of chevrons and micrognaths. Goniadella revizee sp. nov. is described; it differs from the five known species of the genus mainly in having acicular chaetae above the dorsal cirrus, together with 20–21 uniramous chaetigers. The proboscideal papillae of both species are illustrated by scanning electron micrographs.

The allometric growth of Uca leptodactyla from two distinct subtropical estuaries on the Brazilian coast was evaluated concerning its growth pattern and size at onset of sexual maturity. Females attained maturity at similar sizes in both sites (4·1 mm of carapace length in Indaiá and 4·2 mm in Ubatumirim), while males differed slightly. They reached the size at sexual maturity of 5·3 mm of carapace length in Indaiá and 4·6 mm in Ubatumirim. Growth pattern is usually similar among crabs from distinct sites while size at sexual maturity is frequently different. However, in the case of U. leptodactyla it did not occur, probably due to the strong habitat similarity and intrinsic features of this species.

Caprella spp. (Crustacea: Amphipoda) inhabiting the Sargassum algal community in Otsuchi Bay near unpopulated areas of northern Japan, were collected from 1994 to 2001 and subjected to analysis of butyltin (BT) concentrations. The period from 1994 to 2001 corresponds to four to 11 years after legislation limiting the use of tributyltin (TBT) on small boats and aquaculture facilities was passed in Japan. Butyltin compounds including TBT, dibutyltin (DBT) and monobutyltin (MBT) were detected in all samples of Caprella spp., although the three BTs were not detected in seawater samples collected from the same area between 1997 and 1999. The concentration of total BTs (BTs=MBT+DBT+TBT) in Caprella spp. significantly decreased from 84 ng BTs/g wet wt in 1994 to 7·4 ng/g wet wt in 2001. The concentrations of BTs in Caprella spp., which have a high bioconcentration factor for TBT, are thought to reflect the average concentrations of BTs in the surrounding seawater in the previous few months. The half-life of BTs and TBT in Caprella spp. was 2·38 years and 2·07 years, respectively, which are less than half of that of TBT in seawater based on the national survey of The Ministry of the Environment, Japan. Illegal usage of TBT near the studied area may have decreased due to monitoring of BTs.

Benthic assemblages of two Mediterranean submarine caves were compared. Species coverage and number of species were lower in internal (dark) communities than external. This feature was specially marked in the less illuminated cave. Ordination analyses performed on species coverage per community for each cave separately, distinguished several benthic communities from the outermost to the innermost zone of each cave. Cluster analyses on species coverage, taking into account all communities in both the caves, established similarities among communities: algal-dominated communities clustered according to the level of light received independently of the cave they inhabited, while animal-dominated communities were more similar within each cave than between the caves. Moreover, among the abiotic parameters measured irradiance was the only factor that clearly diminished from the entrance to the innermost zone in both the caves. In contrast, water movement and particulate organic matter varied differently in each cave. Results indicate that the different topography, depth and geographic location of the two caves determine water movement, light penetration and nutrient availability along the caves. These factors are responsible for determining species abundance and diversity, as well as species growth habit in each community.

Typical marine arthropods (crustaceans and halacarid mites), as well as species of recent terrestrial ancestry (insect larvae and mesostigmatid mites) coexist on mangrove pneumatophores. Both groups are affected by desiccation and are less abundant towards the tips of the pneumatophores. The degree of species associations within and between the two groups was investigated. The number of negative associations is higher for marine–marine, as compared to terrestrial–terrestrial and terrestrial–marine species pairs. When environmental stress (as represented by direct sunlight, and elevation on pneumatophores, both resulting in increased desiccation) is considered, associations tend to shift from negative to positive, and this is more obvious in terrestrial–terrestrial species pairs. These results are attributed to the longer co-evolutionary history of the marine species, resulting in a more precise partitioning of the microhabitats, while the relationships between terrestrial species are less stable, and more susceptible to environmental stress.

New records are given of the occurrence of the warm-water barnacle Solidobalanus fallax in Britain and Europe. This barnacle is not found on rocks or stones, but settles on biological substrata, including algae, cnidarians, bivalves, gastropods and crustaceans. It also settles on plastic bags and nets, plastic-coated objects such as crab and lobster pots and octopus pots made of ceramic or plastic. With one exception the species was unrecorded in Europe before 1980; it may have increased in abundance during recent years as a result of rising temperatures. The cyprid larvae, which can metamorphose on plastic Petri dishes, appear to be adapted to seek out ‘low energy’ surfaces. One of the habitats colonized by S. fallax is the sea-fan Eunicella verrucosa, where it seems to have increased in recent years, possibly to the detriment of the cnidarian host. Solidobalanus fallax has the potential to be a serious pest of fish-farming structures to the south of Britain.

The caprellid amphipod Caprella danilevskii was exposed to five levels (0, 10, 100, 1000 and 10 000 ng l−1) of tributyltin (TBT) both in the embryonic stage (5 days) and over its whole life history from hatch to death (50 days) to examine the effects of TBT exposure on survival. In both experiments, survival rate decreased drastically as TBT concentrations increased, with a decrease occurring even at 10 ng l−1 in both short- and long-term exposure experiments. Significant differences were found in the survival rate between the control (no control specimens died) and the three concentration groups except 10 000 ng l−1 (all specimens died), regardless of sex. However, the survival rate in response to exposure to TBT has been found to be similar among all combinations of TBT concentration except 10 000 ng l−1, in both sexes. Furthermore, no significant differences were observed in the survival rate in response to exposure to each concentration of TBTCl between sexes. These findings suggest that the risk of survival in response to exposure to TBT between sexes is similar in the caprellids. No sex-specific differences of mortality by TBT exposure were observed in the species although feminization by TBT exposure was found in the caprellids in a previous study. These results all lead to the conclusion that TBT disturbs the mechanism of sex determination during the embryonic stage of the species.

A new species, Longibrachium falcigerum, is described from seamounts in the North Atlantic Ocean, from depths of 495–695 m. Longibrachium falcigerum sp. nov. is unique among its congeners for possessing falcigers and spinigers in the lower chaetal bundle. Another member of the Rhamphobrachium complex, Rhamphobrachium (Spinigerium) brevibrachiatum, occurring with the new species, is briefly characterized.

Nautilocaris saintlaurentae gen. nov., sp. nov., is described and illustrated from hydrothermal vents in the North Fiji Basin and Lau Basin in the south-western Pacific. This new taxon is assigned to the Alvinocarididae. It has a well-developed, dorsally dentate rostrum, carapace with pterygostomian spine present, eye broadly fused mesially, epipod–setobranch complex present above pereopods, and appendix internae on second to fourth pleopods greatly reduced. This combination of characters places it in an intermediate position between a group of species in the genus Alvinocaris with well developed, dorsally dentate rostrum, carapace with pterygostomian spine present, eyes narrowly fused mesially, epipod–setobranch complex absent and well-developed appendices internae on second to fourth pleopods, and Mirocaris fortunata with rostrum unarmed, carapace with rounded pterygostomian angle, eye broadly fused mesially, epipod–setobranch complex present above pereopods and appendices internae on second to fourth pleopods greatly reduced. The habitat of the new species is briefly described.

Conqueria laevis gen. and sp. nov., a new monothalamous agglutinated foraminiferan, is described from core samples collected in the abyssal western Weddell Sea. The species is characterized by a very elongate, almost cylindrical test that usually follows a more or less curved course and has a single terminal aperture located at the end of a short neck. The wall has a very smooth outer surface and is composed of tiny (<5 μm) agglutinated particles. Very similar and presumably congeneric morphotypes occur at northern hemisphere sites, including Arctic fjords around Svalbard and the Porcupine Abyssal Plain. Molecular phylogenetic analyses, based on small subunit rRNA gene sequences, indicate that the new Weddell Sea species forms an independent lineage branching among monothalamous foraminiferans as a sister group to the clade of Psammophaga.

The structural parameters of sponge-dominated benthic communities from two Mediterranean caves in two seasons, autumn (November) and spring (June) were compared. The percentage of species in common between communities in each cave was calculated as a rough estimate of the capacity of species dispersion in each cave. The Shannon diversity index and Kulczynski similarity index were calculated for each community. Moreover, we studied the spatial distribution, patchiness and interspecies contacts of the most abundant species. The value of α-diversity was quite constant among communities of the Cabrera cave but decreased from the external to the innermost community in the Medes cave. The Kulczynski similarity index was generally lower among samples of the Cabrera cave. The most abundant sponge species showed a predominantly clumped distribution, especially in the most internal communities of the two caves. The innermost community of the Medes cave had the highest number of patches. Finally, the study of contacts among species that were non-random (meaning species that were in contact with a given species significantly more or less frequently than expected) showed that they were very common in the two seasons and in all communities, indicating the importance of biotic associations among benthic species in cave assemblages.

Heterosaccus lunatus parasitizes the portunid crab, Charybdis callianassa, in Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. Larval broods, released during July and August (males only), were allowed to develop through to cyprids (lecithotrophic development). Speeds of all the developmental stages—nauplius I to nauplius IV and the cyprids were measured by timing continuously swimming larvae over 5 mm distances under a microscope. The absolute speeds of the naupliar stages were similar (3–4 mm s−1), but the cyprids were significantly faster at ≈10 mm s−1. These speeds were compared with published speeds of cirripede and copepod nauplii and other cirripede cyprids. Relative speeds (body lengths s−1) showed surprising parity, which for the cyprids probably reflects the similar efficiency of the fusiform shape and thoracopod propulsion for all sizes of this highly specialized larval form. The lecithotrophic H. lunatus nauplii have rather minimalistic appendages (compared with planktotrophic nauplii) which were examined at the light microscope and scanning electron microscope levels. The natatory setae were found to be plumo-denticulate.

Total lipid (TL) and lipid-class composition in Acanthostepheia malmgreni (Crustacea: Amphipoda) from 240 m depth in Conception Bay were determined from samples collected monthly throughout 1999 and 2000. Variation in lipids among life history stages was studied in relation to the reproductive cycle of A. malmgreni and the timing of the major annual sinking event following the spring phytoplankton bloom in April. Total lipid remained relatively constant in first year juveniles [mean 4·4% dry mass (DM)], after which it gradually increased with the first signs of development of sexual characteristics and the sedimentation of spring bloom material in May. Triacylglycerol (TAG) was the dominant neutral lipid in all stages, with phospholipid (PL) the dominant polar lipid. Highest net accumulation of TL and TAG occurred in a group of large age 2+ individuals from October 1998 to May 1999, and in age 1+ immature males and immature females from July to November 2000 (1·4 mg TL month−1; 0·8 mg TAG month−1). Phospholipid quantities within the population were relatively constant at ≈2% DM. Maximum TL in the population (13% DM) was observed in large adults and some large immature individuals, and significant decreases in both TL and PL were recorded in mature females during the brooding period. This study reveals a dependence of A. malmgreni on seasonal lipid accumulation for reproduction, and a clear trophic link between the amphipod population and the pelagic production cycle.

Trachysalambria curvirostris occurs widely along the south and west coasts of Korea with a range extending from Kanghwado in the north-west, down to Sarangdo in the south-east. With seasonal warming of the waters starting in April, the shrimps begin to migrate from deep waters to the coastal area. Zoea and mysis larvae occurred from June to August. Sex ratio showed seasonal variations, with a mean value of 56·7% for the females. The species produces one cohort a year, with the ovaries ripening from June to July. Insemination appeared to take place from June to August, as more than half of the females sampled in the study over 15–16 mm carapace length were inseminated. Mean gonadosomatic index (GSI) reached a maximum between June and July. The smallest mature female found was 15 mm carapace length (CL). Size at 50% sexual maturity (CL50), determined from both mature females and inseminated females, was 15·37 mm and 16·49 mm CL, respectively. Fecundity was directly proportional to the size of the female, with clutch sizes varying from 16,380 eggs in the smallest female to 114,621 eggs in the largest, and the eggs ranged from 230 μm to 340 μm in diameter. The life span of females appeared to be 14–15 months according to size frequency distributions, while that of the male was 13–14 months. Population growth was estimated by the modified von Bertalanffy growth function incorporating seasonal variation in growth. Based on the growth parameters (K=2·00 y−1 and L∞=24·64 mm CL for females, and K=2·00 y−1 and L∞=19·00 mm CL for males) growth curves showed that females grew faster and reached a larger size at age than males. This result is supported by differences in growth performance indices (ϕ′).

The influence of sedimentation, depth and substratum angle on sponge assemblages in the Wakatobi region, south-eastern Sulawesi, Indonesia was considered. Sponge assemblages were sampled from two reef localities. The first reef (Sampela) was highly impacted by high sedimentation rates with fine sediment particles that settle slowly, while the second (Hoga) experienced only fast settling coarse sediment with lower overall sedimentation rates. Sponge assemblages were sampled (area occupied and numbers) on the reef flat (0 m) and at 5 (reef crest), 10 and 15 m (15 m at Hoga only). Some significant (P<0·001) differences were observed in the area occupied and the number of sponge patches between surface angles and sites. Significantly lower (t>4·61, df=9, P<0·001) sponge numbers, percentage cover and richness were associated with the reef flat at both sites compared with all other depths at each site, with the exception of abundance of sponges on the reef flat at Sampela, which was much greater than at any other depth sampled. Species richness increased with depth at both sites but differences between surface angles were only recorded at Sampela, with higher species richness being found on vertical, inclined and horizontal surfaces respectively. A total of 100 sponge species (total area sampled 52·5 m2) was reported from the two sites, with 58 species found at Sampela and 71 species at Hoga (41% of species shared). Multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) indicated differences in assemblage structure between sites and most depth intervals, but not substratum angles. A number of biological (e.g. competition and predation) and physical (e.g. sedimentation and aerial exposure) factors were considered to control sponge abundance and richness. Unexpectedly a significant (F1,169=148·98, P<0·001) positive linear relationship was found between sponge density and area occupied. In areas of high sponge coverage, the number of patches was also high, possibly due to fragmentation of large sponges produced as a result of predation and physical disturbance. The MDS results were also the same whether sponge numbers or percentage cover estimates were used, suggesting that although these different approaches yield different sorts of information, the same assemblage structure can be identified.

Larvae of the hydrothermal vent barnacle Neoverruca sp. were reared under laboratory conditions and larval development was observed. Under these conditions, the larvae were released from adults as first-stage nauplii, although the larvae of other deep-sea barnacles have generally been considered to be released at a later larval stage such as the cyprid stage. The larvae of Neoverruca sp. were lecithotrophic through six naupliar stages and the subsequent cyprid stage. The larval period of Neoverruca sp. was more than 96 days under the present rearing conditions, which is the longest yet reported for barnacles. Most cyprid larvae, however, exhibited abnormal morphology and no larvae settled successfully on the substrate. These observations suggest that such a long larval period might enable neoverrucid barnacles to disperse between vent fields.

During a study devoted to the characterization of the polychaete fauna associated with dead coral (Pocillopora spp.) in the Coiba National Park (Pacific coast of Panamá), nine species belonging to seven genera of sabellids (Annelida: Polychaeta: Sabellidae) were found. Three species new to science are described. Amphicorina bichaeta sp. nov. is characterized by having three pairs of radioles, smooth collar, broad thoracic notochaetae of two kinds (plus bayonet chaetae), and abdominal uncini with a large anterior tooth. Amphicorina perkinsi sp. nov. is characterized by having four pairs of radioles, six to eight abdominal chaetigers, smooth and oblique collar, broad thoracic notochaetae and thoracic uncini with main fang surmounted by a distinct subdistal tooth and a curved row of little teeth. Amphiglena jimenezi sp. nov. is characterized by having long radiolar appendages, medium-sized handles in thoracic uncini, and gametes in middle abdominal segments. Another six species are recorded: Branchiomma cf. bairdi and Notaulax occidentalis, which are new for the Pacific Ocean, while Notaulax nudicollis and Megalomma circumspectum, are new for the Pacific coast of Panamá. The presence of Bispira melanostigma and Pseudopotamilla intermedia is verified.

A species of the genus Amorphinopsis is described for the first time for the Atlantic Ocean. The new species was described based on the study of 25 specimens, collected in the area of the São Sebastião Channel and its environs (northern sector of São Paulo State coastline) and in the Cabo Frio region (Rio de Janeiro State). The form is massive cushion-shaped, lobate, occasionally encrusting. The megascleres are styles [160–260 (N=20)/5–10 (N=10) μm; length/thickness] and oxeas [150–900 (N=100)/5–18 (N=20) μm]. Amorphinopsis atlantica sp. nov. differs from the other species of Amorphinopsis by its colour, dark-greyish-green with or without yellow tinges on the exposed surface, and the smaller size of its oxeas. Amorphinopsis excavans is the closest species to the Brazilian material, but can still be set apart by a series of smaller traits, such as oxeas and styles never overlapping (the smaller oxea is always larger than the larger style).