Search

A marked salinity-related decrease in gillraker number in sea bass samples during growth was documented. All specimens share the same genetic stock and rearing conditions were constant during early ontogeny. Variation in gillraker number could be related to the ecophenotypism of this character but selection can not be excluded. Results obtained from reared specimens were compared with those reported in the literature and with data collected from wild stocks. Attention is focused on the pitfalls that the use of this character may have on the taxonomy of fish species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sectioned otoliths were used for age and growth determination of the alien Micropterus salmoides from Lake Chicamba, a hydroelectric dam in central Mozambique. Marginal zone analysis showed that annulus formation occurred during winter in August and September. The maximum estimated age was 5 years. Growth was described by the 3 parameter von Bertalanffy model as Lt = 465.51 (1 - e1.175(t+0.009) mm FL. Juvenile growth rate was 23.1 mm per month during their first 7 months of life. The age at 100% maturity was 0.9 years, and spawning occurred during August and September. The juvenile fish fed sequentially on the most abundant prey items. Spawning occurred before any of the indigenous fish species and so, there is little inter-specific competition. Conspecific juveniles formed the most important constituent in the adult M. salmoides diet from October to December when alternative prey was limited. The total annual mortality rate (Z) for the species in Lake Chicamba was 1.27 yr-1, the mean empirical estimate of natural mortality (M) was 0.73 yr-1, and fishing mortality (F) was calculated at 0.54 yr-1. The success of M. salmoides in Lake Chicamba was attributed to limited inter-specific and intra-specific competition for prey as a consequence of the timing of the spawning, cannibalism and high mortality rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Net avoidance rate increases as a function of larval striped bass size. This causes under-estimation of abundance and overestimation of mortality rate. We modeled net avoidance by assuming that fish avoid the net by swimming a radial distance at a right angle to the net axis. This distance, the evasion radius, was estimated by comparing the calculated densities of striped bass larvae from a series of paired tows involving a large and a small net. Iteration and solution models were used to estimate the evasion radius for each millimeter size group of fish in order to estimate the actual density in the environment. Avoidance of the nets increased with fish length. The ratio of actual density in the environment to the measured density in the small net was used to adjust abundances measured in our ichthyoplankton surveys. After adjusting for net avoidance, mortality rates of striped bass larvae from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary were reduced by 10% compared to the unadjusted rates. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Absorption of proteins by pinocytosis was studied in the postvalvular intestine of larvae of the sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax during transition to the exotrophic phase. Comparison of specimens ranging in age from 4 or 5 d (age of mouth opening) to 25 d (period of strictly exotrophic feeding) made it possible to determine the morphofunctional development of enterocytes when fish are fed on Artemia sp. (Brazil strain). The pinocytotic activity of enterocytes was weak at the time of mouth opening, but intensified rapidly. After the first feed (7 to 8 d), enterocytes were capable of absorbing proteins, since they actively incorporated ferritin. At the age of 18 to 19 d, they showed a strong capacity for absorption resulting in the formation of a large supranuclear vacuole by the age of 25 d. Examination of the intestine of larvae fed artificially showed that enterocytes developed little until 18 to 19 d of age, but the presence of supranuclear vacuoles in the cytoplasm nevertheless indicated a capacity for absorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the influence of zoogeographic factors and life-history parameters (effective population size, generation length, and dispersal) on the evolutionary genetic structure of marine fishes in the southeastern USA, phylogeographic patterns of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) were compared between disjunct Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico populations in three coastal marine fishes whose juveniles require an estuarine or freshwater habitat for development. Black sea bass ( Centropristis striata), menhaden ( Brevoortia tyrannus and B. patronus) and sturgeon ( Acipenser oxyrhynchus) samples were collected between 1986 and 1988. All species showed significant haplotype frequency differences between the Atlantic and Gulf, but the magnitude and distribution of mtDNA variation differed greatly among these taxa: sea bass showed little within-region mtDNA polymorphism and a clear phylogenetic distinction between the Atlantic and Gulf; menhaden showed extensive within-region polymorphism and a paraphyletic relationship between Atlantic and Gulf populations; and sturgeon exhibited very low mtDNA diversity both within regions and overall. Evolutionary effective sizes of the female populations ( N( e)) estimated from the mtDNA data ranged from N( e) = 50 (Gulf of Mexico sturgeon) to N( e) = 800 000 (Atlantic menhaden), and showed a strong rank-order agreement with the current-day census sizes of these species. The relationship between N( e) and the estimated times of divergence ( t) among mtDNA lineages (from conventional clock calibrations) predicts the observed phylogenetic distinction between Atlantic and Gulf sea bass, as well as the paraphyletic pattern in menhaden, provided the populations have been separated by the same long-standing zoogeographic barriers thought to have influenced other coastal taxa in the southeastern USA. However, vicariant scenarios alone cannot explain other phylogenetic aspects of the menhaden (and sturgeon) mtDNA data and, for these species, recent gene flow between the Atlantic and Gulf coasts is strongly implicated. These data are relevant to management and conservation issues for these species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was conducted to determine if coastal diatoms from eutrophic waters (Werribee, Port Phillip Bay, Australia) are able to grow better than diatoms from oligotrophic waters (Bass Strait, Australia) on organic nitrogen compounds as their principal nitrogen sources. Eight clones of marine planktonic diatoms, belonging to 5 species ( Skeletonema costatum, Asterionella japonica, Nitzschia closterium, Coscinodiscus sp., and Fragilaria sp.), were incubated with inorganic (either nitrate or ammonia) or organic (either urea, uric acid, alanine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glycine, serine, threonine, or valine) nitrogen sources and growth response was measured under high and low light intensities. All clones grew well on the organic as well as thorganic nitrogen compounds under both light regimes. Intraspecific differences were not great, as no appreciable difference was noted between clones from oligotrophic and eutrophic waters. The two negatively-charged amino acids, aspartic and glutamic acids, were somewhat less effective in supporting growth of some clones than were the other amino acids. Virtually all of the dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) compounds tested were utilizable for algal growth. Further, all clones appeared able to utilize at least some natural DON (uncharacterized) for cell division; in 1980, DON represented 97% of total nitrogen in Bass Strait and 83% of total nitrogen in Werribee waters. The results are consistent with previous findings on algal utilization of certain DON compounds and indicate comparable abilities of cells from oligotrophic and eutrophic coastal waters to assimilate these nutrients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of a catadromous life-strategy on levels of spatial genetic structuring in fish is poorly understood. In an effort to gain a better appreciation of how this specialized life-strategy determines population genetic structuring, we assessed variation in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region in a catadromous perciform, the Australian bass Macquaria novemaculeata. Nineteen putative haplotypes were resolved using temperature gradient gel electrophoresis from 10 geographically distinct populations. Significant heterogeneity was revealed in haplotype frequencies and their spatial distributions among many locales. Gene partitioning statistics (AMOVA) for both raw haplotype frequency data and frequency data with sequence divergences were concordant, indicating that M. novemaculeata populations were moderately genetically structured (ΦST = 0.05, 0.06; P < 0.001, respectively). Isolation by distance seems to be a strong structuring force in M. novemaculeata, culminating in no detectable phylogeographic structuring among haplotypes. Low sequence divergences were observed among many haplotypes and it is suggested that these are the result of pruning of maternal lineages by cyclical variations in female reproductive success. This study highlights the importance of life-history patterns and, in particular, spawning locality, in determining spatial structuring of mtDNA variation in catadromous species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water quality in sea-cages, and metazoan ectoparasites on bass, Dicentrarchus labrax (L.), and bream, Sparus aurata L., were sampled at two fish farms in south-west Greece over 2 years. The seabed and marine life around the cages of one farm was surveyed using scuba. The most frequent and abundant parasites were the monogeans Sparicotyle chrysophrii and Furnestinia echeneis on the gills of bream, and Diplectanum aequans on the gills of bass. The copepod Caligus minimus occasionally occurred in the buccal cavity of bass, but only in low numbers. Prevalence and abundance of parasites increased with bass size but F. echeneis levels decreased with bream size. There were no other clear relationships between water quality, parasite levels and fish size. Ammonia varied seasonally with sea temperature, and with oxygen levels below 6 mg l-1 on many occasions, it is possible that fish suffered stress from a combination of high ammonia and low oxygen conditions. There was no accumulation of waste food or faeces below the cages at the one farm surveyed, but there were thousands of wild fish, including mullet (Mugilidae), Spicara sp. and Diplodus spp., present around the cages. Water quality may be improved by changes in farm management, such as reducing stocking densities below the present 16 kg m-3. Oxygen should be monitored at the cages on site daily. How comparable environmental conditions and impacts, and parasitization are at other bass and bream sea cage farms is unknown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment using differently marked larval striped bass, Morone saxatilis (Walbaum), and its hybrid (M. saxatilis x M. chrysops (Rafinesque)) was performed in two grow-out ponds. Larval striped bass were immersed in oxytetracycline solution to mark their otoliths; hybrids received no treatment. Larvae from both groups were mixed and stocked at 8 days post hatch into the ponds. Striped bass and hybrid larvae grew to a significantly larger size at 3 5 days in one pond. In both ponds, hybrid lengths at 3 5 days after hatch were significantly greater than striped bass lengths. However, the magnitude of the size difference between hybrids and striped bass was twofold greater (10%) in one pond than in the other (5%). The proportion of striped bass juveniles at 3 5 days differed from the initial stocking proportion (0.5 3) only in one pond, where hybrids showed 12% greater survival than striped bass. Results suggested that the relative survival of hybrids was influenced by growth conditions in the ponds. Based on the ease of protocol and analysis of the marking experiment, we recommend its use to (1) investigate relative performance between genetic groups of young fish in common environments; and (2) predict the effects of introductions of genetically altered fishes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary The relative degree and duration of protection against Vibrio anguillarum and Pasteurella piscicida in sea bass vaccinated once by immersion at 1 g was compared with fish vaccinated by immersion at 1 g and revaccinated at 5 g by immersion or intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection. The vaccines used were based on V. anguillurum (serotype O1) and P. piscicida. The groups of fish were challenged with both pathogens separately at 7 weeks and 26 weeks post revaccination. Sea bass vaccinated by immersion at 1 g and again at 5g by immersion or injection, demonstrated a significant level of protection against V. anguillarum lasting for 26 weeks post revaccination. Sea bass revaccinated by immersion were significantly protected against P. piscicida 7 weeks post revaccination compared with nonvaccinated fish. Failure in killing nonvaccinated sea bass during the latter pasteurellosis challenge renders duration of protection against P. piscicida beyond 7 weeks post revaccination as inconclusive. No long-term protection was measured against either pathogen in the fish vaccinated at 1 g. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the effects of replacing fish meal in diets on growth and body composition of palmetto bass. Isonitrogenous formulation of diets; Daily feeding of fishes; Specific growth rate; Variations in growth; Amino acid composition of fillets.

Investigates growth responses and liver changes in juvenile sunshine bass or Morone chrysops x M. saxatilis associated with dietary protein and lipid level. Total body fat and body protein results; Liver lipid content results; Increase in liver alanine aminotransferase activities.

Determines the storage stability of frozen muscle from sunshine bass, Morone chrysops x Morone saxatilis, fed diets containing various levels of protein. Measurement of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and changes in shear stress and tensile strength of the muscle during storage.

Presents the results of feeding trials that were conducted to determine the feasibility of using blood meal and poultry products as partial replacements for fish meal in diets for juvenile palmetto bass. How the study was conducted; Results; Discussion.