Assessing the behavioural patterns of animals is an increasingly important field in conservation biology, as it may assist in the prediction of how animals respond to rapid changes in the environment. Comparing the behavioural patterns of sympatric species can also give insights into the mechanisms that allow similar species to coexist. We undertook dolphin group follows in order to quantify the behavioural patterns of the sympatric Chilean and Peale's dolphins in southern Chile. Markov chains showed that these species differed significantly in time allocated to each of the five different behavioural states, but travelling was the most frequent behavioural state observed for both species. Six (out of 25) behavioural transitions were found to be different between species. In addition, group size and group dispersion were highly associated with specific behavioural states. Larger groups were more likely to socialize, while small groups were more likely to rest. For both species resting was mostly observed in tight groups, while foraging/feeding and travelling were related to intermediate group dispersion. Socializing differed between species, occurring in tight groups for Peale's dolphins and dispersed groups for Chilean dolphins. Overall, there were significant differences in behavioural patterns between the two species. These dissimilarities may represent evidence of different strategies (i.e. habitat use patterns and foraging) these two species employ which allow them to coexist. The information generated in this study will contribute to the development of better predictive models on how animals may respond to a changing environment and to the potential effects of human induced activities.

Diatoms are a primary producer and play an important role in the functioning of microbial food webs. Temporal variations in community patterns of planktonic diatom assemblages were studied during a 1-year cycle (June 2007–May 2008) in Jiaozhou Bay, northern China. Samples were collected biweekly at a depth of 1 m from five sampling stations. A total of 75 diatom species representing 40 genera, 28 family, 19 orders and three classes were recorded. Of these species, 11 distributed in all four seasons, while 27, 35, 56 and 28 forms occurred only in spring, summer, autumn and winter season, respectively. The species number and total abundance peaked in autumn, with minimum values in May. All three species biodiversity measures (Shannon diversity, Pielou's evenness and Marglef's richness) peaked in spring and autumn. There was a significant difference in diatom community patterns among seasons, except the pair of spring and winter. The environmental variables, especially temperature and the nutrients, could significantly drive the seasonal variation in diatom community patterns. Of 11 dominant species, four (Paralia sulcata, Skeletonema costatum, Guinardia delicatula and Nitzschia lorenziana) were significantly related with temperature, pH and/or nutrients. These findings suggest that the seasonal shift in community pattern of planktonic diatoms was driven by both temperature and nutrients in this eutrophic basin ecosystem.

This study analysed the regime shift of tope shark and the overlapping taxa Raja spp. in the Alboran Sea. Tope shark and Raja spp. landings are both significantly correlated with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). A significant negative correlation was found between Raja spp. landings and tope shark landings. This finding suggests that climatic oscillations affect regime shifts between these taxa in the Alboran Sea. Studies are scarce on the dependence of deep-sea communities on biological and physical processes occurring in near-shore pelagic environments mediated by large-scale atmospheric phenomena. Similar to previous studies on the Mediterranean Sea, a close association was found between landings of deep-water animals and the NAO. The main conclusion is that the regime shift of tope shark and the overlapping taxa Raja spp. is mediated by a negative NAO and accumulated snow.

A brooding Octopus vulgaris female was monitored for 128 days in her natural habitat. The main reproductive events and embryonic development in relation to the temperature inside the spawning den, which was recorded by long-battery-life mini-data loggers, are described in the wild. The den temperature ranged from 12.9 to 19.3°C. The total number of egg strings was 160, and the total number of eggs spawned ranged between 139,040 and 241,760 (mean 190,400). The brooding period, the egg laying interval and the duration of the hatching course lasted 128, 35 and 43 days, respectively. Both egg laying and hatching were intermittent processes. The time taken for embryonic development was variable (85–128 d) and depended on the laying date, temperature and position of the string in the egg cluster and the position of the egg in the egg string. The first hatching observed occurred after a progressive and gradual increase of the temperature from 14.9 to 19.3°C. The 280 min of video recordings taken by scuba divers showed that several times, this female opened and closed a small window in the obstructions of the den entrance to facilitate a way out for the hatchling batches.

The main objectives of this study are the establishment of a detailed description of five semi-submerged and shallow-water marine caves from the Tarkhankut Peninsula (Crimea), their biological characteristics with particular attention to species composition, and the distribution of sponge assemblages in these caves. Three semi-submerged and two submerged caves with lengths of 9–131 m and volumes of 61–3060 m3 have been investigated. All of them are karst-abrasive or karst in origin. In the investigated caves, we inventoried seven sponge species. All were recorded species of Porifera belong to the class Demospongiae and have previously been recorded also in adjacent open sea waters. These species are tolerant to different hydrological conditions, mostly temperature and salinity. Some of them have wide geographic distribution. The species composition of sponges from the shallow water caves of Crimea is quite different from the sponge composition in Mediterranean caves. This could be due to the geographic isolation of the Black Sea and the differences in the hydro-chemical parameters of the milieu (water salinity in Tarkhankut is 18–21‰).

The grooved carpet shell Venerupis decussata (=Ruditapes decussatus) (Linnaeus, 1758) is a Mediterranean autochthonous species that in Tunisia is heavily harvested from natural populations. It represents one of the important economic issues, especially in terms of employment and the trade balances of the country via its exportation. Despite its economic value, no studies have been carried out about the spread of this mollusc. Thus the status of this species is still poorly known and there is a knowledge gap about its stocks assessment. This study aimed to investigate the distribution, abundance and population structure of the carpet shell clam in Sfax coastal areas. In terms of geographic occupation, maps of the population distribution were drawn. The results showed a scattered distribution pattern of the species according to location ranging between 0 and 152 ind m−2. The consequence was a remarkable biomass which represented 891 tonnes of total fresh weight and high abundance levels reaching over 261.7 ± 84.2 million individuals estimated in the area of 4182 hectares. The distribution of the species has also been investigated in consideration with the size which varied markedly according to location, the shell length ranged between 2 and 41 mm. The overall sex ratio (F:M) was 1:1.17, which was significantly different from parity (1:1). The size at which 50% of the population reached maturity was 24.08 and 24.76 mm shell length for males and females, respectively. Findings of the current study suggest that V. decussata proliferates along southern Tunisian coasts.

Human activities have increasingly affected biodiversity in the Mediterranean Sea. Data on the distribution and abundance of species allows researchers to assess the possible degradation of wild populations. These data could act as a baseline to assess the magnitude of the effects of human activities on a bioindicator species. The distribution and relative abundance of the south-western populations of the endemic Astroides calycularis in the South Iberian Peninsula were studied to establish a baseline for future studies. The rocky shoreline was studied at a depth range of 0–12 m, including more than 650 km of Spain's Andalusian coastline. The species was present in 135 of the 585 dive points sampled. ANOVA analysis showed differences in depth in the four provinces studied, and there was no interaction between the two factors. As human activities on the Mediterranean coast are reducing the A. calycularis populations, a baseline on marine populations is greatly recommended for monitoring, assessment, and management studies, especially for endangered or bioindicator species. This baseline could be useful as a reference tool to assess the effects of human activities on marine biodiversity, including global change.

This is the first comprehensive anatomical study of a representative of the septibranch Cuspidariidae. Particular interest in Cardiomya costellata is related to the fact that only two species of such predatory septibranchs have been recorded from the remote Açorean Archipelago and, here, individuals of both taxa are half the shell length of conspecifics throughout the species’ North-eastern Atlantic range. The shell of C. costellata is thin, fragile and rostrate. This latter attribute allows the inhalant siphon (as in other cuspidarioids) to be extended towards potential prey to effect their capture. How this extension is effected has been described but, herein, the hydrodynamic forces needed to achieve this are put into a firmer anatomical context. Uniquely amongst the Anomalesmata, cuspidarioids have, previously, been regarded as dioecious. This is not the case for C. costellata, which is a protandric consecutive hermaphrodite. The gonads and reproductive strategy of this species are compared with those of the spheniopsid Grippina coronata that is representative of a second cuspidarioid family of deeper water predators and which is a simultaneous hermaphrodite brooding self-fertilized embryos in the gonadial follicles with their release being post mortem. Some evidence suggests that in the Açores, the possible crustacean prey of C. costellata are also smaller than their mainland conspecifics, which, when viewed in the overall context of the predator's biology and anatomy, might explain its poor success in the oligotrophic waters of these mid-Atlantic islands.

Water temperature is one of the most important factors greatly affecting the aquaculture of sea urchins. However, no information is available on how to improve commercial traits of sea urchins reared at high water temperature. Here, we investigated the effects of water temperature and feeding regime on food consumption, growth, gonad production, gametogenesis and gonad quality of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius. We found that high water temperature (22°C) significantly decreased dried food consumption and gonad production of S. intermedius, but not the somatic growth. The feeding regime of formulated feed and kelp has direct application potential in S. intermedius aquaculture, especially at field temperature. Feeding kelp alone is not effective in supporting growth and gonad production for S. intermedius cultured at high water temperature. This finding greatly challenges the current commonly used feeding regime (feeding macroalgae only) for S. intermedius cultured at high water temperature. Based on the current results, we suggest the feeding regimes of formulated feed and kelp or formulated feed alone for S. intermedius aquaculture at high water temperature. The present study provides new information for aquaculture of S. intermedius at high temperature and for production out of season.

The structural complexity of macrophytes that provide various microhabitats is related to local infaunal abundance and diversity. Seagrass is considered an ecosystem engineer that alters the benthic environment and enables certain distinct meiofauna to thrive in sediments. The effects of seagrass species in a mixed-species seagrass bed at Haikou, Taiwan were examined. Analysing quantitative samples obtained from patches of Thalassia hemprichii, Halodule uninervis, Halophila ovalis and adjacent unvegetated sediments inspected the community structures of meiofauna and marine nematodes. The abundance and diversity of crustaceans and nematodes were substantially higher in habitats in which seagrass grew than in those comprising unvegetated sediments. Both the compositions of higher meiofaunal taxa and nematode species were distinct between seagrass habitats and unvegetated areas. Several nematode species existed exclusively in patches of individual seagrass species, whereas no nematode specifically occurred in unvegetated areas. Regarding the trophic types of nematodes, non-selective deposit feeders were prevalent in the present study, whereas selective deposit feeders and epistrate feeders were relatively dominant in seagrass habitats. Sediments underneath various patches of seagrass species harbour dissimilar nematode communities, even with similar sediment parameters and at a small-scale distance.

The commercially important chokka squid Loligo reynaudii occurring in South African waters is currently managed on a single-unit stock hypothesis. We tested this assumption through a spatial comparison of the morphology throughout the distributional range of the species. Forty-three morphometric characters were measured from 1079 chokka collected off the south coast of South Africa, the west coast of South Africa, and southern Angola. While no significant differences were found in the hard body parts, results from classification analysis showed that though all four types of morphometric attributes (soft body parts, beaks, statoliths, sucker rings) resulted in some separation, the most consistent separation of samples from the three regions was based on soft body part morphometric characters. On average, though dependent on the model, the overall correct classification rate ranged from 0.68–0.99 for males and 0.7–0.99 for females in all three regions. Previous DNA analysis had revealed some genetic differences between west coast and south coast samples, suggesting the confluence of the cold Benguela and warm Agulhas current may act as the approximate point of a phenotypic and possible genetic breakpoint. Finer scale genetic analysis of samples collected across the Benguela–Agulhas confluence reported no significant genetic structuring in this area suggesting environmental heterogeneity and not restriction of genetic flow/isolation as the primary driver of the observed phenotypic divergence.

In the coast of Galicia an average of 200 stranded cetaceans are reported annually. From 1990 to 2013, 21 individuals of four species of the family Ziphiidae were found: 15 Cuvier's beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris), two Sowerby's beaked whales (Mesoplodon bidens), one True's beaked whale (Mesoplodon mirus) and one Blainville's beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris), as well as two unidentified ones. These were the first records in Galicia for True's beaked whale and Blainville's beaked whale. The study of the distribution of oceanic species considering only stranded animals has limitations, but is a good approach to this not well-known cetacean family. Due to the small number of individuals of the different species, statistical analyses for geographic or seasonal patterns were only carried out for the Cuvier's beaked whales. Between the periods of 1990–2002 and 2003–2013 significant differences were found for geographic and seasonal occurrence patterns. Over the last decade strandings were located only in the north area of the region, mainly during the spring season, while in the previous decade they were located along the three considered areas and only in autumn and winter.

Although sponges constitute the dominant animal group in marine caves globally, few studies have investigated quantitatively their diversity patterns in this habitat. Regarding Mediterranean marine caves, data describing the structure and diversity gradients of sponge assemblages are available for the north-western basin, while information for the eastern Mediterranean is almost inexistent. In this study, the sponge assemblages in two Aegean marine caves (eastern Mediterranean Sea) with different topography were examined using a non-destructive method. In each cave, three quadrats (25 × 25 cm) were photographed at 5 m intervals, along three transects: one along the ceiling and two along the opposite walls. Per cent coverage for each sponge species was calculated using advanced image processing software. Our analyses revealed a rich sponge assemblage, which consisted of 50 species assigned to eight growth forms. Resemblance analysis for the surveyed caves revealed two major groups of samples corresponding to the shadowy outer and the darker internal cave sectors. However, differences in species composition as well as divergent spatial patterns of species richness, Shannon–Wiener diversity and morphological diversity were found not only between the caves but also between different transects within each cave. Sponge morphological diversity presented significant positive correlation with species richness and Shannon–Wiener diversity in both caves, suggesting that it could possibly be used as a surrogate measure for describing sponge diversity gradients in Mediterranean caves. Cave topography was found to have a significant effect on the observed diversity patterns and assemblage structure, highlighting the high level of individuality in these unique habitats.

Although in vivo and in vitro approaches appear to be very different, they are related and complementary techniques and both are essential for the investigation of diverse biological topics. The employment of both techniques was considered particularly appropriate to investigate the role of 17β-oestradiol and testosterone in echinoid reproductive biology. The relationship between sex-steroids and echinoid reproduction has not been clearly determined yet, due to the highly variable and sometimes contrasting results obtained from steroid administration experiments. These might be due to the activation of protective metabolic mechanisms that can prevent the exogenous molecules from exerting their biological functions, as observed in our previous research. To clarify these aspects, in the present study we explored sex-steroid involvement in the reproduction of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, employing both in vivo and in vitro approaches: (1) an experiment involving hormone dietary administration was performed and different reproductive parameters were deeply analysed; (2) ovarian cells were cultured in the presence of the same steroids and morphological and biochemical analyses were carried out. According to our results, sex-steroids appear not to be involved in sea urchin gonad development and gamete maturation, as neither in vivo administration nor in vitro exposure influenced gonad and gamete growth. In addition, in vitro hormonal treatment did not affect sea urchin Major Yolk Protein content. Overall, the present work complements our previous research providing information on sex-steroid involvement in echinoid reproduction and illustrates new methodological approaches that will be useful for future research on invertebrate biology and physiology.

A continuous time delay-difference model (CD-DM) was applied to the Chinese neon flying squid (Ommastrephes bartramii) jigging fisheries data (2001–2004) in the north-west Pacific Ocean. The continuous time delay-difference model (CD-DM) was modified from the discrete-time delay-difference model (D-DM), in which recruitment, growth and mortality rates are treated as varying continuously over time. Some commercially important stocks, such as shrimp and O. bartrami with recruitment, growth and mortality rates all varying continuously over time, may be better analysed by a continuous delay-difference model. We estimated the growth and recruitment of O. bartramii on the basis of the CD-DM, and biological reference points (BRPs) and accuracy of estimates are discussed in this study. We obtained population sizes of 183.9–201.8 million squid during early September 2004. The status of the stock was not in a sustainable state at this time with the available data, which suggests that measures should be taken for the sustainable utilization of this stock. The ability to calculate reference points without need of a full age-structured data makes CD-DM an attractive option for data-poor fisheries. We provided an alternative method for assessing O. bartramii stock and bridged the gap between simple surplus production models and complex fully age-structured models.

The trophic structure of Ascension Island's sub-tidal reef assemblages is poorly understood. Unlike other tropical reef systems, sub-tidal habitats have very low abundance of both coral and macrophyte species. Visually dominant is a diverse assemblage of fish species, with particularly high densities of Melichthys niger, a voracious omnivore. In contrast, the nocturnal species assemblage is notably different, visually dominated by benthic invertebrates. To quantify the difference between day and night visible assemblages, we conducted day/night pairs of transect surveys of fish and invertebrates across three depths, and spanning 9 months, assigning all species to one of 10 functional groups. Multivariate analysis of surveys revealed significant turnover in species between day and night surveys and between survey periods, with concomitant changes in species rank-abundance distributions. Juveniles of a number of fish species were determinate in observed differences. Conversely, diversity of functional groups between day/night surveys and between seasons were not different, however there was significant species turnover within functional groups between day and night assemblages. The lack of proportional change in functional groups but a turn-over of species between day and night assemblages suggest that there may be a degree of functional redundancy in Ascension Island's marine trophic profile. Further investigation into the spatio-temporal variation in trophic profile and functional diversity around the island will benefit conservation and fisheries management in this isolated and poorly understood marine system.

There is a paucity of information on the cetacean fauna of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa. We compiled records published in the literature and novel unpublished sighting data (2008–2014) to examine the occurrence and distribution of cetacean species. At least 10 species were verified to occur in Guinea-Bissau waters, of which eight were documented from a small number of sightings, whaling captures or skeletal remains. By far the most frequently recorded species were the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) (N = 146) and the Atlantic humpback dolphin (Sousa teuszii) (N = 110). These two species were sympatric in distribution, both being found throughout coastal waters from the northern regions of Canal de Jeta and Rio Mansôa south to the Rio Cacine and around the Arquipélago dos Bijagós. However, differences were apparent in their finer-scale distribution and in the distance of sightings from shore, with bottlenose dolphin sightings generally occurring further from shore (and especially in the region of the Canal do Gêba) than Atlantic humpback dolphins. Sightings indicate that both species likely inhabit Guinea-Bissau waters throughout the year. Dedicated systematic cetacean survey work is urgently needed in coastal Bissau-Guinean waters in order to ascertain the abundance, spatio-temporal distribution, population structure and causes of mortality of bottlenose and Atlantic humpback dolphins, particularly given the Vulnerable conservation status of the latter species. Clarification of the status of cetaceans in offshore waters requires survey effort throughout the Guinea-Bissau EEZ.