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• Microplastics in organisms relevant to food webs from the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean. • Fishes from the MPA N/BB presented high values of occurrence and MPs per individual. • Differences in MPs may be due to differing feeding habits of the species. • Fibers were the most abundant items, followed by fragments. • The polymers identified were semisynthetic cellulose and synthetic MPs. Microplastics (MPs) are currently one of the main problems of marine pollution, being found in all environmental matrices. Due to their size, they can be ingested by organisms directly (from the environment) or indirectly (with their prey). The objective of this study was to analyze the occurrence, abundance, concentration, and chemical nature of MPs present in the gastrointestinal tract of two fish species, Patagonotothen guntheri and Patagonotothen ramsayi , both of which are key in the food web of the Marine Protected Area Namuncurá/ Banco Burdwood (MPA N/BB). The analyzed species presented high values of MPs per individual (MPs/ind.) and occurrence compared to other studies. P. guntheri tended to have a lower number of MPs/ind. and occurrence than P. ramsayi (P. guntheri: 2.50 ± 1.93 MPs/ind., 82.50 %; P. ramsayi: 3.93 ± 2.91 MPs/ind., 90.60 %). While fibers were the predominant MPs in both species, P. ramsayi had a greater number of fragments and a greater variety of MPs chemical composition than P. guntheri. The prevailing chemical composition was cellulosic material (cellulose and cellulose mixed with polyamide and polyester). Synthetic fibers and fragments such as polyester (PET), alkyd resin, polyurethane, polyethylene, polyacrylic fiber and poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate-co-vinyl chloride) were also found. Although both species have a generalist diet, the differences found may be due to the fact that P. guntheri has benthopelagic feeding habits while P. ramsayi has demersal-benthic. Our study is the first report on the presence and characterization of MPs in organisms relevant to food webs in the Southwest Atlantic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antarctic notothenioid fishes are highly stenothermal, yet their tolerance for warming is species-dependent. Because a body of literature points to the loss of cardiac function as underlying thermal limits in ectothermic animals, we investigated potential relationships among properties of ventricular mitochondrial membranes in notothenioids with known differences in both cardiac mitochondrial metabolism and organismal thermal tolerance. Fluidity of mitochondrial membranes was quantified by fluorescence depolarization for the white-blooded Chaenocephalus aceratus and the red-blooded Notothenia coriiceps. In these same membranes, lipid compositions and products of lipid peroxidation, the latter of which can disrupt membrane order, were analyzed in both species and in a second icefish, Pseudochaenichthys georgianus. Mitochondrial membranes from C. aceratus were significantly more fluid than those of the more thermotolerant species N. coriiceps (P <.0001). Consistent with this, ratios of total phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) to total phosphatidylcholine (PC) were lower in membranes from both species of icefishes, compared to those of N. coriiceps (P <.05). However, membranes of N. coriiceps displayed a greater unsaturation index (P <.0001). No differences among species were found in membrane products of lipid peroxidation. With rising temperatures, greater contents of PC in mitochondrial membranes from ventricles of icefishes are likely to promote membrane hyperfluidization at a lower temperature than for cardiac mitochondrial membranes from the red-blooded notothenioid. We propose that physical and chemical properties of the mitochondrial membranes may contribute to some of the observed differences in thermal sensitivity of physiological function among these species. • The notothenioid Notothenia coriiceps is more thermotolerant than Chaenocephalus aceratus. • We investigated properties of mitochondrial membranes in these species. • Membranes from C. aceratus were more fluid than those of N. coriiceps. • Consistent with this, total PE-to-PC was greater in membranes of N. coriiceps. • Variation in lipids may compromise membrane integrity with warming in C. aceratus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbohydrate metabolism and the antioxidant defence system of heart and muscle of the Antarctic notothenioids Notothenia rossii and Notothenia coriiceps were evaluated in response to heat stress (8 °C) over 144 h. N. rossii heart exhibited decreased glycolysis and aerobic metabolism after up to 12 h of exposure to 8 °C, and anaerobiosis was inhibited within 24 h. However, these pathways were stimulated after 72 h at 8 °C. The consumption of glucose-6-phosphate, derived from hexokinase (HK), by glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) decreased in N. rossii heart within 6 h at 8 °C, with a subsequent increase at 72 h. In N. rossii muscle at 8 °C, glycolysis was stimulated within 2 h by an increase in pyruvate kinase (PK), and aerobic metabolism was stimulated at 144 h, together with anaerobiosis. In N. coriiceps heart at 8 °C, glucose break down by HK decreased within 2 h and subsequently increased at 12 and 24 h. Increased glucose-6-phosphate consumption by G6PDH occurred within 6 h at 8 °C. In N. coriiceps muscle at 8 °C, glycolysis was stimulated at 2 and 6 h, with subsequent inhibition within 24 h, as indicated by HK activity. Aerobic metabolism was inhibited at 72 and 144 h at 8 °C through the inhibition of citrate synthase (CS). Heat stress caused responses were only occasional and transient in antioxidant defence system of both species in the heart and muscle, leading to increased glutathione (GSH) and decreased levels of lipoperoxidation in the heart of both species. The results obtained in this study in the heart and muscles indicate that under heat stress at 8 °C, N. rossii is more responsive than N. coriiceps with respect to carbohydrate metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present work, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and metabolites, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) were analyzed in three Antarctic notothenioids fish species: Trematomus newnesi (TRN), Notothenia coriiceps (NOC) and Notothenia rossii (NOR). The contribution of each POP-family to the total load was as follows: ΣPCB (40%) > ΣDDT (27%) > ΣPBDEs (23%) > ΣHCH (10%). Among the 23 PCB congeners analyzed, penta -CBs homologues were the prevalent group, followed by hexa -CBs and hepta -CBs. DDT and its metabolites presented the following trend: p , p ′-DDT > p , p ′-DDE ~ p , p ′-DDD. PBDE profile was dominated by BDE-47 and BDE-99 congeners, followed by BDE-100 > BDE-28 > BDE-154, BDE-153. Among HCHs, the γ-HCH isomer was detected in all samples, constituting 69% total HCH load, while α-HCH and β-HCH contributions were 15% and 16%, respectively. The levels of POPs reported here suggest that NOR and NOC are more susceptible to accumulate the analyzed contaminants than TRN, a species not previously analyzed for POPs. Distribution of POPs among different tissues of the three species (muscle, liver, gonads, and gills) was also investigated. Considering lipid weight, the general pattern of POPs distribution in tissues indicated that while gonads showed higher levels of PCBs, DDTs and HCH, the most significant PBDE concentrations were recorded in gills. Also, a comparative analysis of POPs concentration in fish samples from Antarctic area was included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Pelagic fish assemblages and community structure were examined along longitudinal and meridian transects off Adélie and George V Land, East Antarctica, in the austral summer 2008. Fish were sampled with an RMT 8 net principally from six discrete depth layers (0–50–100–200–500–1000–2000 m) in the oceanic zone and from three depth layers (0–50–100–200 m) over the continental shelf zone. A total of 20,281 individuals from 27 species were collected. Pleuragramma antarcticum was the most dominant species by number (18,710 inds), followed by Chionodraco hamatus (768), Trematomus newnesi (375), Cyclothone microdon (101), Electrona antarctica (92), Bathylagus antarcticus (51) and Notolepis coatsi (54). Cluster analysis revealed that the fish community was clearly divided at the Antarctic Slope Front into separate oceanic and shelf assemblages, being dominated by mesopelagic fish and notothenioids, respectively. The Southern Boundary of Antarctic Circumpolar Current likely restricted a more northern distribution of notothenioids in the upper 200 m. Mesopelagic fish dominated the large biomass below 500 m and notothenioids dominated that in the upper 100 m. It is considered that mesopelagic fish in the oceanic zone would unlikely be eaten by seabirds because no distinctive diel vertical migration to the surface layer was observed. In the neritic zone, notothenioids (C. hamatus, T. newnesi and P. antarcticum) possibly play an important role as prey items for flying seabirds, penguins and other notothenioids fish especially in the shallow depth stratum (0–100 m). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The influence of temperature on the aerobic metabolism and the energetic cost of food intake (Specific Dynamic Action; SDA) have been investigated in four species of Sub-Antarctic teleosts. The species were the notothenioids Paranotothenia magellanica, Patagonotothen sima and Harpagifer bispinis and the zoarcid Austrolycus depressiceps. Individuals were captured in the vicinity of Ushuaia Bay. Experimental temperatures were 10, 4 and 2°C, which correspond to summer, winter and extreme winter respectively. Individual respirometry chambers and calorimetric techniques were used. Different food items were provided: crustaceans (isopods and amphipods) and Argentinean hake muscle. Interspecific analysis was done on species fed with isopods. A rapid increase in oxygen consumption was registered after meals, indicating a typical SDA response. The Duration of the SDA was longer at low temperatures. The extra energy spent during the process itself, and when expressed as a percentage of consumed food energy, decreased with decreasing temperature. The SDA Coefficient was higher for H. bispinis that were fed with isopods. We suggest that decreases in temperature diminish the metabolic cost and extend SDA. Energy-saving mechanisms could be an evolutionary advantage to minimize the energetic cost of living at low sub-Antarctic temperatures. A general model of exponential decay is suggested for the duration of SDA and Temperature, based on the present study and compiled from literature data. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The teleostean Channichthyidae (icefish), endemic stenotherms of the Antarctic waters, perennially at or near freezing, represent a unique example of disaptation among adult vertebrates for their loss of functional traits, particularly hemoglobin (Hb) and, in some species, cardiac myoglobin (Mb), once considered to be essential-life oxygen-binding chromoproteins. Conceivably, this stably frigid, oxygen-rich habitat has permitted high tolerance of disaptation, followed by subsequent adaptive recovery based on gene expression reprogramming and compensatory responses, including an alternative cardio-circulatory design, Hb-free blood and Mb-free cardiac muscle. This review revisits the functional significance of the multilevel cardio-circulatory compensations (hypervolemia, near-zero hematocrit and low blood viscosity, large bore capillaries, increased vascularity with great capacitance, cardiomegaly with very large cardiac output, high blood flow with low systemic pressure and systemic resistance) that counteract the challenge of hypoxemic hypoxia by increasing peripheral oxygen transcellular movement for aerobic tissues, including the myocardium. Reconsidered in the context of recent knowledge on both polar cold adaptation and the new questions related to the advent of nitric oxide (NO) biology, these compensations can be interpreted either according to the “loss-without-penalty” alternative, or in the context of an excessive environmental oxygen supply at low cellular cost and oxygen requirement in the cold. Therefore, rather than reflecting oxygen limitation, several traits may indicate structural overcompensation of oxygen supply reductions at cell/tissue levels. At the multilevel cardio-circulatory adjustments, NO is revealing itself as a major integrator, compensating disaptation with functional phenotypic plasticity, as illustrated by the heart paradigm. Beside NOS-dependent NO generation, recent knowledge concerning Hb/Mb interplay with NO and nitrite has revealed unexpected functions in addition to the classical respiratory role of these proteins. In fact, nitrite, a major biologic reservoir of NO, generates it through deohyHb- and deoxyMb-dependent nitrite reduction, thereby regulating hypoxic vasodilation, cellular respiration and signalling. We suggest that both Hb and Mb are involved as nitrite reductases under hypoxic conditions in a number of cardiocirculatory processes. On the whole, this opens new horizons in environmental and evolutionary physiology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]