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Cardinalfishes (Apogonidae) are abundant on corals reefs, but there are few data on demography to understand trophodynamics and population dynamics. Ostorhinchus doederleini is a small and abundant apogonid on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and throughout the western Pacific Ocean. We present key demographic parameters for the entire life history from the southern GBR. Daily deposition of increments in otoliths was validated. Fish had a Planktonic Larval Duration (PLD) of 16-26 days. PLD was established from fish collected immediately prior to settlement as no settlement mark was found. Fish grew at about 0.35 mm [day.sup.-1] for the first 20 days after settlement. Fish reached a maximum standard length at about 200 days, and no fish lived longer than 368 days at four reefs separated by kilometers to tens of kilometers. There was no evidence for differences in size at age between sexes. Mortality was very high, and for fish greater than 60 days old, mortality rates ranged from 2.9 to 4.6 % [day.sup.-1]. Short lives and high mortality rates make O. doederleini, and potentially other apogonids, vulnerable to recruitment failure. Here, we review data on the demographic characteristics of other reef fishes. Although some taxa live to over 50 years, the short lives of apogonids are most aligned with the Gobiidae and Blenniidae (i.e., typically, Introduction Nocturnal fishes are an important trophic group on both coral and temperate reefs (e.g., Marnane and Bellwood 2002; Annesse and Kingsford 2005). Fishes belonging to the Apogonidae, Holocentridae, Nemipteridae [...]

Purpose: To evaluate if incisional prophylactic negative pressure wound therapy (pNPWT) reduces wound infections and other wound complications in high-risk patients undergoing major complex ventral abdominal wall repair.Methods: Retrospective before-after comparison nested in a consecutive series of patients undergoing elective major complex abdominal wall repair. Starting January 2014, pNPWT was applied on the closed incisional wound for a minimum of 5 days. To minimize selection bias, we compared two periods of 14 months before and after January 2014. Wound infections according to the Centre for Disease Control Surgical Site Infection classification as well as other wound complications were recorded.Results: Thirty-two patients were included in the pNPWT group and 34 in the control group. The study group involved clean-contaminated and contaminated operations due to enterocutaneous fistula, enterostomies or infected mesh. Median duration of pNPWT was 5 days (IQR 5-7). Overall wound infection rate was 35%. pNPWT was associated with a significant decrease in postoperative wound infection rate (24 versus 51%; p = 0.029, OR 0.30 (95% CI 0.10-0.90)). Incisional wound infection rates dropped from 48 to 7% (p < 0.01, OR 0.08 (95% CI 0.16-0.39), whereas the number of subcutaneous abscesses was comparable in both groups. Moreover, less interventions were needed in the pNPWT group (p < 0.001).Conclusions: Closed incision pNPWT seems a promising solution to reduce the incidence of wound infections in complex abdominal wall surgery. Randomized controlled trials are needed to estimate more precisely the value and cost-effectiveness of pNPWT in this high-risk setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lobsters extract information from complex signals in turbulent odor plumes and it guides them to mates or food sources. To test hypotheses about this guidance information, we have developed a [...]

One mechanism that permits the maintenance of dominance hierarchies is individual recognition, that is the ability of an animal to recognize a conspecific on the basis of one or more identifying cues. Our objective here was to examine the potential of the long-clawed hermit crab, Pagurus longicarpus, to differentiate between familiar and unfamiliar opponents, following in part the protocol used by Karavanich and Atema (1998) for the American lobster. Results showed that the agonistic level of hermit crabs was higher in unfamiliar than in familiar pairs; in addition, betas were more prone to initiate: an interaction with unfamiliar than with familiar alphas. The identity of the opponent was acquired in 30 min of interaction and its memory lasted for four, but not six, days of isolation. Hermit crabs still remember the former opponent when separated from it for one day while housed with other five hermit crabs. Further studies are needed to clarify the proximate and ultimate causes of this phenomenon in hermit crabs. Acknowledgments: Funds were provided to F.G. by MBL Associates, Ann E. Kammer Memorial Fellowship Fund, H. Keffer Hartline Fellowship Fund, Frank R. Lillie Fund, Plum Foundation.