Sample records for sailfish istiophorus platypterus
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Tsai, Yung-Hsiang; Chang, Shiou-Chung; Kung, Hsien-Feng; Wei, Cheng-I; Hwang, Deng-Fwu
2005-08-01
Enterobacter aerogenes was studied for its growth and ability to promote the formation of total volatile base nitrogen (TVBN) and histamine in sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus) and milkfish (Chanos chanos) stored at various temperatures from -20 to 37 degrees C. The optimal temperature for bacterial growth in both fish species was 25 degrees C, whereas the optimal temperature for histamine formation was 37 degrees C. The two fish species inoculated with E. aerogenes, when not properly stored at low temperatures such as 15 degrees C for 36 h, formed histamine at above the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hazardous guideline level of 50 mg/100 g. Milkfish was a better substrate than sailfish for histamine formation by bacterial histidine decarboxylation at elevated temperatures (> 15 degrees C). Although higher contents of TVBN were detected in the spiked sailfish than milkfish during the same storage time at temperatures above 15 degrees C, the use of the 30-mg/100 g level of TVBN as a determination index for fish quality and decomposition was not a good criterion for assessing potential histamine hazard for both fish species. Bacterial growth was controlled by cold storage of the fish at 4 degrees C or below, but histamine formation was stopped only by frozen storage. Once the frozen fish samples were thawed and stored at 25 degrees C, histamine started to accumulate rapidly and reached levels greater than the hazardous action level in 36 h.
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Sagong, Woong; Jeon, Woo-Pyung; Choi, Haecheon
2013-01-01
The sailfish and swordfish are known as the fastest sea animals, reaching their maximum speeds of around 100 km/h. In the present study, we investigate the hydrodynamic characteristics of these fishes in their cruise speeds of about 1 body length per second. We install a taxidermy specimen of each fish in a wind tunnel, and measure the drag on its body and boundary-layer velocity above its body surface at the Reynolds number corresponding to its cruising condition. The drag coefficients of the sailfish and swordfish based on the free-stream velocity and their wetted areas are measured to be 0.0075 and 0.0091, respectively, at their cruising conditions. These drag coefficients are very low and comparable to those of tuna and pike and smaller than those of dogfish and small-size trout. On the other hand, the long bill is one of the most distinguished features of these fishes from other fishes, and we study its role on the ability of drag modification. The drag on the fish without the bill or with an artificially-made shorter one is slightly smaller than that with the original bill, indicating that the bill itself does not contribute to any drag reduction at its cruise speed. From the velocity measurement near the body surface, we find that at the cruise speed flow separation does not occur over the whole body even without the bill, and the boundary layer flow is affected only at the anterior part of the body by the bill. PMID:24312547
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Rossi, E A; Shepard, S R; Poyer, J C; Hartmann, J X
1992-06-01
Balb/c mice were immunized with albumin purified from sailfish (Istiophorus albicans) serum. Hybridomas were produced and screened by ELISA for reactivity with the purified albumins of sailfish, blue marlin (Makaira nigricans) and white marlin (Tetrapturus albidus). Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) from 16 different clones exhibited activity against sailfish albumin. Thirteen of the MAbs showed cross-reactivity with the marlin species. Three MAbs exhibited distinct specificity for sailfish albumin. One of these species specific MAbs (M2D1) was conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in order to construct an ELISA for identification of sailfish from serum. The ELISA for sailfish correctly identified eight sailfish from 26 billfish serum samples. The MAb-peroxidase conjugate was highly specific toward sailfish in that no reaction against heterologous species was detected.
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How sailfish use their bills to capture schooling prey
Domenici, P.; Wilson, A. D. M.; Kurvers, R. H. J. M.; Marras, S.; Herbert-Read, J. E.; Steffensen, J. F.; Krause, S.; Viblanc, P. E.; Couillaud, P.; Krause, J.
2014-01-01
The istiophorid family of billfishes is characterized by an extended rostrum or ‘bill’. While various functions (e.g. foraging and hydrodynamic benefits) have been proposed for this structure, until now no study has directly investigated the mechanisms by which billfishes use their rostrum to feed on prey. Here, we present the first unequivocal evidence of how the bill is used by Atlantic sailfish (Istiophorus albicans) to attack schooling sardines in the open ocean. Using high-speed video-analysis, we show that (i) sailfish manage to insert their bill into sardine schools without eliciting an evasive response and (ii) subsequently use their bill to either tap on individual prey targets or to slash through the school with powerful lateral motions characterized by one of the highest accelerations ever recorded in an aquatic vertebrate. Our results demonstrate that the combination of stealth and rapid motion make the sailfish bill an extremely effective feeding adaptation for capturing schooling prey. PMID:24759865
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How sailfish use their bills to capture schooling prey.
Domenici, P; Wilson, A D M; Kurvers, R H J M; Marras, S; Herbert-Read, J E; Steffensen, J F; Krause, S; Viblanc, P E; Couillaud, P; Krause, J
2014-06-07
The istiophorid family of billfishes is characterized by an extended rostrum or 'bill'. While various functions (e.g. foraging and hydrodynamic benefits) have been proposed for this structure, until now no study has directly investigated the mechanisms by which billfishes use their rostrum to feed on prey. Here, we present the first unequivocal evidence of how the bill is used by Atlantic sailfish (Istiophorus albicans) to attack schooling sardines in the open ocean. Using high-speed video-analysis, we show that (i) sailfish manage to insert their bill into sardine schools without eliciting an evasive response and (ii) subsequently use their bill to either tap on individual prey targets or to slash through the school with powerful lateral motions characterized by one of the highest accelerations ever recorded in an aquatic vertebrate. Our results demonstrate that the combination of stealth and rapid motion make the sailfish bill an extremely effective feeding adaptation for capturing schooling prey.
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Injury-mediated decrease in locomotor performance increases predation risk in schooling fish.
Krause, J; Herbert-Read, J E; Seebacher, F; Domenici, P; Wilson, A D M; Marras, S; Svendsen, M B S; Strömbom, D; Steffensen, J F; Krause, S; Viblanc, P E; Couillaud, P; Bach, P; Sabarros, P S; Zaslansky, P; Kurvers, R H J M
2017-08-19
The costs and benefits of group living often depend on the spatial position of individuals within groups and the ability of individuals to occupy preferred positions. For example, models of predation events for moving prey groups predict higher mortality risk for individuals at the periphery and front of groups. We investigated these predictions in sardine ( Sardinella aurita ) schools under attack from group hunting sailfish ( Istiophorus platypterus ) in the open ocean. Sailfish approached sardine schools about equally often from the front and rear, but prior to attack there was a chasing period in which sardines attempted to swim away from the predator. Consequently, all sailfish attacks were directed at the rear and peripheral positions of the school, resulting in higher predation risk for individuals at these positions. During attacks, sailfish slash at sardines with their bill causing prey injury including scale removal and tissue damage. Sardines injured in previous attacks were more often found in the rear half of the school than in the front half. Moreover, injured fish had lower tail-beat frequencies and lagged behind uninjured fish. Injuries inflicted by sailfish bills may, therefore, hinder prey swimming speed and drive spatial sorting in prey schools through passive self-assortment. We found only partial support for the theoretical predictions from current predator-prey models, highlighting the importance of incorporating more realistic predator-prey dynamics into these models.This article is part of the themed issue 'Physiological determinants of social behaviour in animals'. © 2017 The Author(s).
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Rooker, Jay R.; Simms, Jeff R.; Wells, R. J. David; Holt, Scott A.; Holt, G. Joan; Graves, John E.; Furey, Nathan B.
2012-01-01
Ichthyoplankton surveys were conducted in surface waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico (NGoM) over a three-year period (2006–2008) to determine the relative value of this region as early life habitat of sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus), blue marlin (Makaira nigricans), white marlin (Kajikia albida), and swordfish (Xiphias gladius). Sailfish were the dominant billfish collected in summer surveys, and larvae were present at 37.5% of the stations sampled. Blue marlin and white marlin larvae were present at 25.0% and 4.6% of the stations sampled, respectively, while swordfish occurred at 17.2% of the stations. Areas of peak production were detected and maximum density estimates for sailfish (22.09 larvae 1000 m−2) were significantly higher than the three other species: blue marlin (9.62 larvae 1000 m−2), white marlin (5.44 larvae 1000 m−2), and swordfish (4.67 larvae 1000 m−2). The distribution and abundance of billfish and swordfish larvae varied spatially and temporally, and several environmental variables (sea surface temperature, salinity, sea surface height, distance to the Loop Current, current velocity, water depth, and Sargassum biomass) were deemed to be influential variables in generalized additive models (GAMs). Mesoscale features in the NGoM affected the distribution and abundance of billfish and swordfish larvae, with densities typically higher in frontal zones or areas proximal to the Loop Current. Habitat suitability of all four species was strongly linked to physicochemical attributes of the water masses they inhabited, and observed abundance was higher in slope waters with lower sea surface temperature and higher salinity. Our results highlight the value of the NGoM as early life habitat of billfishes and swordfish, and represent valuable baseline data for evaluating anthropogenic effects (i.e., Deepwater Horizon oil spill) on the Atlantic billfish and swordfish populations. PMID:22509277
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Rooker, Jay R; Simms, Jeff R; Wells, R J David; Holt, Scott A; Holt, G Joan; Graves, John E; Furey, Nathan B
2012-01-01
Ichthyoplankton surveys were conducted in surface waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico (NGoM) over a three-year period (2006-2008) to determine the relative value of this region as early life habitat of sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus), blue marlin (Makaira nigricans), white marlin (Kajikia albida), and swordfish (Xiphias gladius). Sailfish were the dominant billfish collected in summer surveys, and larvae were present at 37.5% of the stations sampled. Blue marlin and white marlin larvae were present at 25.0% and 4.6% of the stations sampled, respectively, while swordfish occurred at 17.2% of the stations. Areas of peak production were detected and maximum density estimates for sailfish (22.09 larvae 1000 m(-2)) were significantly higher than the three other species: blue marlin (9.62 larvae 1000 m(-2)), white marlin (5.44 larvae 1000 m(-2)), and swordfish (4.67 larvae 1000 m(-2)). The distribution and abundance of billfish and swordfish larvae varied spatially and temporally, and several environmental variables (sea surface temperature, salinity, sea surface height, distance to the Loop Current, current velocity, water depth, and Sargassum biomass) were deemed to be influential variables in generalized additive models (GAMs). Mesoscale features in the NGoM affected the distribution and abundance of billfish and swordfish larvae, with densities typically higher in frontal zones or areas proximal to the Loop Current. Habitat suitability of all four species was strongly linked to physicochemical attributes of the water masses they inhabited, and observed abundance was higher in slope waters with lower sea surface temperature and higher salinity. Our results highlight the value of the NGoM as early life habitat of billfishes and swordfish, and represent valuable baseline data for evaluating anthropogenic effects (i.e., Deepwater Horizon oil spill) on the Atlantic billfish and swordfish populations.
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Habitat and food partitioning of billfishes (Xiphioidei).
Shimose, T; Yokawa, K; Saito, H
2010-06-01
Species composition and food habits of four istiophorid billfishes were investigated and compared in three different tropical areas of the eastern North Pacific Ocean by longline operations from September to November 2004. Sailfish Istiophorus platypterus, shortbill spearfish Tetrapturus angustirostris and blue marlin Makaira nigricans had specific habitat preferences and mainly occurred in the near-continent area (13-16 degrees N; 103-107 degrees W), the open-ocean area (16-18 degrees N; 118-134 degrees W) and the near-equator area (5 degrees N; 104-120 degrees W). Small (<140 cm in lower jaw-fork length) striped marlin Kajikia audax mainly occurred in the near-continent area; however, large (>/=140 cm) individuals occurred throughout all three areas. Prey compositions of large K. audax in the three areas were different from one other reflecting the prey availability in each area. In the open-ocean area, molid fishes were dominant in mass for both large K. audax (49%) and T. angustirostris (73%), and large K. audax also fed on ostraciid (33%) and scombrid fishes (15%). In the near-continent area, tetraodontid fishes were dominant for large and small I. platypterus (54, 57%), and both large and small K. audax also fed on tetraodontid fishes (3, 12%). Large K. audax in this area fed mainly on scombrid fishes (86%). These results indicate that large K. audax show overlaps but little segregations of its prey with other billfishes. In the near-equator area, stomach contents of large K. audax and M. nigricans were few and billfish prey items were thought to be scarce.
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Sailfish migrations connect productive coastal areas in the West Atlantic Ocean
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lam, Chi Hin; Galuardi, Benjamin; Mendillo, Anthony; Chandler, Emily; Lutcavage, Molly E.
2016-12-01
Isla Mujeres, Mexico is home to one of the most well-known aggregations of sailfish. Despite its fisheries prominence, little is known about this sailfish assemblage, or its relationship to other aggregation sites in the western Atlantic. In January 2012, April 2013 and 2014, we deployed 34 popup satellite archival tags on sailfish in order to study their behavior, population connectivity and biophysical interactions. Sailfish were monitored for up to one year, and displayed (1) predominantly shelf associated activity (2) occupancy of the Yucatán Current near Isla Mujeres for up to five months and (3) subsequent dispersals from the Yucatán to productive coastal areas in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and along the South American coast. Tagged sailfish occupied a median temperature of 26.4°C (interquartile range, IQR = 2.5 °C range = 12.3-33.3 °C) and median depth of 4.4 m (IQR = 19 m range = 0-452 m). Diel activity was present and individuals made distinctive descents before sunrise and sunset. Tracking missions of sufficient duration (~1 year) revealed previously undetected connectivity between western Atlantic sailfish fisheries and pelagic longline catches, and highlighted how fishery independent tagging can improve understanding of sailfish migrations and behavior for assessment and management.
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Sailfish migrations connect productive coastal areas in the West Atlantic Ocean.
Lam, Chi Hin; Galuardi, Benjamin; Mendillo, Anthony; Chandler, Emily; Lutcavage, Molly E
2016-12-01
Isla Mujeres, Mexico is home to one of the most well-known aggregations of sailfish. Despite its fisheries prominence, little is known about this sailfish assemblage, or its relationship to other aggregation sites in the western Atlantic. In January 2012, April 2013 and 2014, we deployed 34 popup satellite archival tags on sailfish in order to study their behavior, population connectivity and biophysical interactions. Sailfish were monitored for up to one year, and displayed (1) predominantly shelf associated activity (2) occupancy of the Yucatán Current near Isla Mujeres for up to five months and (3) subsequent dispersals from the Yucatán to productive coastal areas in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and along the South American coast. Tagged sailfish occupied a median temperature of 26.4°C (interquartile range, IQR = 2.5 °C; range = 12.3-33.3 °C) and median depth of 4.4 m (IQR = 19 m; range = 0-452 m). Diel activity was present and individuals made distinctive descents before sunrise and sunset. Tracking missions of sufficient duration (~1 year) revealed previously undetected connectivity between western Atlantic sailfish fisheries and pelagic longline catches, and highlighted how fishery independent tagging can improve understanding of sailfish migrations and behavior for assessment and management.
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Sailfish migrations connect productive coastal areas in the West Atlantic Ocean
Lam, Chi Hin; Galuardi, Benjamin; Mendillo, Anthony; Chandler, Emily; Lutcavage, Molly E.
2016-01-01
Isla Mujeres, Mexico is home to one of the most well-known aggregations of sailfish. Despite its fisheries prominence, little is known about this sailfish assemblage, or its relationship to other aggregation sites in the western Atlantic. In January 2012, April 2013 and 2014, we deployed 34 popup satellite archival tags on sailfish in order to study their behavior, population connectivity and biophysical interactions. Sailfish were monitored for up to one year, and displayed (1) predominantly shelf associated activity (2) occupancy of the Yucatán Current near Isla Mujeres for up to five months and (3) subsequent dispersals from the Yucatán to productive coastal areas in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and along the South American coast. Tagged sailfish occupied a median temperature of 26.4°C (interquartile range, IQR = 2.5 °C; range = 12.3–33.3 °C) and median depth of 4.4 m (IQR = 19 m; range = 0–452 m). Diel activity was present and individuals made distinctive descents before sunrise and sunset. Tracking missions of sufficient duration (~1 year) revealed previously undetected connectivity between western Atlantic sailfish fisheries and pelagic longline catches, and highlighted how fishery independent tagging can improve understanding of sailfish migrations and behavior for assessment and management. PMID:27905559
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Hydrodynamic characteristics of sailfish and swordfish
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Sagong, Woong; Jeon, Woo-Pyung; Choi, Haecheon
2009-11-01
The sailfish and swordfish are known as fastest sea animals, reaching their maximum speeds of more than 100km/h. Recently, Sagong et al. (2008, Phys. Fluids) investigated the role of V- shaped protrusions existing on the sailfish skin in the skin-friction reduction but those protrusions did not make a direct role in reducing drag. On the other hand, the long bill has been regarded as a device of reducing drag by separation delay through turbulence generation. In the present study, we investigate the hydrodynamic characteristics of sailfish and swordfish by installing the stuffed ones in a wind tunnel and measuring the drag on their bodies and boundary-layer velocities above the body surfaces. The drag coefficients of sailfish and swordfish are 0.0075 and 0.009 based on the free-stream velocity and wetted area, respectively. They are comparable to or smaller than those of other kinds of fish such as the dogfish, tuna and trout. Next, the role of bill on the drag is studied. The drag without bill or with an artificial short bill is lower than that with the original long bill, indicating that the bill does not reduce the drag at all. From the velocity measurement near the body surfaces, we found that flow separation does not occur even without bill, and thus the conjecture that the flow separation is delayed through turbulence generation by the bill is not valid.
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Identifying pelagic fish eggs in the southeast Yucatan Peninsula using DNA barcodes.
Leyva-Cruz, E; Vásquez-Yeomans, L; Carrillo, L; Valdez-Moreno, M
2016-12-01
In the waters surrounding Banco Chinchorro in the Mexican Caribbean are spawning and nursery areas for many types of fish. In this natural environment, as opposed to under controlled laboratory conditions, it is almost impossible to link an individual egg to the adult that laid it. This makes identifying the species of the eggs difficult. However, DNA barcodes have made this easier. In the present study, 300 eggs were processed for molecular analysis, from which 139 sequences were obtained. We identified 42 taxa (33 species with their binomial names), 35 genera, and 24 families. The identified eggs included those from Ariomma melanum, which is the first recording of this species in the Mexican Caribbean. Eggs from economically important fish species were also identified, including frigate tuna (Auxis thazard), crevalle jack (Caranx hippos), common dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus), sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus), white marlin (Kajikia albida), skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis), blackfin tuna (Thunnus atlanticus), and swordfish (Xiphias gladius). We have also described new morphological characteristics and captured photographs for 21 species, as well as obtained new information about spawning locality and time for 16 species. This valuable information will provide the basis to develop more effective conservation measures for sustainable fisheries and protection of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System.
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Feeding ecology of pelagic fish larvae and juveniles in slope waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Wells, R J D; Rooker, J R
2009-11-01
Stable isotope ratios of carbon (delta13C) and nitrogen (delta15N) were used to investigate feeding patterns of larval and early juvenile pelagic fishes in slope waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Contribution of organic matter supplied to fishes and trophic position within this pelagic food web was estimated in 2007 and 2008 by comparing dietary signatures of the two main producers in this ecosystem: phytoplankton [based on particulate organic matter (POM)] and Sargassum spp. Stable isotope ratios of POM and pelagic Sargassum spp. were significantly different from one another with delta13C values of POM depleted by 3-6 per thousand and delta15N values enriched by 2 relative to Sargassum spp. Stable isotope ratios were significantly different among the five pelagic fishes examined: blue marlin Makaira nigricans, dolphinfish Coryphaena hippurus, pompano dolphinfish Coryphaena equiselis, sailfish Istiophorus platypterus and swordfish Xiphias gladius. Mean delta13C values ranged almost 2 among fishes and were most depleted in I. platypterus. In addition, mean delta15N values ranged 4-5 with highest mean values found for both C. hippurus and C. equiselis and the lowest mean value for M. nigricans during both years. Increasing delta13C or delta15N with standard length suggested that shifts in trophic position and diet occurred during early life for several species examined. Results of a two-source mixing model suggest approximately an equal contribution of organic matter by both sources (POM=55%; pelagic Sargassum spp.=45%) to the early life stages of pelagic fishes examined. Contribution of organic matter, however, varied among species, and sensitivity analyses indicated that organic source estimates changed from 2 to 13% for a delta(13)C fractionation change of +/-0.25 per thousand or a delta15N fractionation change of +/-1.0 per thousand relative to original fractionation values.
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Svendsen, Morten B. S.; Domenici, Paolo; Marras, Stefano; Krause, Jens; Boswell, Kevin M.; Rodriguez-Pinto, Ivan; Wilson, Alexander D. M.; Kurvers, Ralf H. J. M.; Viblanc, Paul E.; Finger, Jean S.; Steffensen, John F.
2016-01-01
ABSTRACT Billfishes are considered to be among the fastest swimmers in the oceans. Previous studies have estimated maximum speed of sailfish and black marlin at around 35 m s−1 but theoretical work on cavitation predicts that such extreme speed is unlikely. Here we investigated maximum speed of sailfish, and three other large marine pelagic predatory fish species, by measuring the twitch contraction time of anaerobic swimming muscle. The highest estimated maximum swimming speeds were found in sailfish (8.3±1.4 m s−1), followed by barracuda (6.2±1.0 m s−1), little tunny (5.6±0.2 m s−1) and dorado (4.0±0.9 m s−1); although size-corrected performance was highest in little tunny and lowest in sailfish. Contrary to previously reported estimates, our results suggest that sailfish are incapable of exceeding swimming speeds of 10-15 m s−1, which corresponds to the speed at which cavitation is predicted to occur, with destructive consequences for fin tissues. PMID:27543056
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Marras, Stefano; Noda, Takuji; Steffensen, John F; Svendsen, Morten B S; Krause, Jens; Wilson, Alexander D M; Kurvers, Ralf H J M; Herbert-Read, James; Boswell, Kevin M; Domenici, Paolo
2015-10-01
Billfishes are considered among the fastest swimmers in the oceans. Despite early estimates of extremely high speeds, more recent work showed that these predators (e.g., blue marlin) spend most of their time swimming slowly, rarely exceeding 2 m s(-1). Predator-prey interactions provide a context within which one may expect maximal speeds both by predators and prey. Beyond speed, however, an important component determining the outcome of predator-prey encounters is unsteady swimming (i.e., turning and accelerating). Although large predators are faster than their small prey, the latter show higher performance in unsteady swimming. To contrast the evading behaviors of their highly maneuverable prey, sailfish and other large aquatic predators possess morphological adaptations, such as elongated bills, which can be moved more rapidly than the whole body itself, facilitating capture of the prey. Therefore, it is an open question whether such supposedly very fast swimmers do use high-speed bursts when feeding on evasive prey, in addition to using their bill for slashing prey. Here, we measured the swimming behavior of sailfish by using high-frequency accelerometry and high-speed video observations during predator-prey interactions. These measurements allowed analyses of tail beat frequencies to estimate swimming speeds. Our results suggest that sailfish burst at speeds of about 7 m s(-1) and do not exceed swimming speeds of 10 m s(-1) during predator-prey interactions. These speeds are much lower than previous estimates. In addition, the oscillations of the bill during swimming with, and without, extension of the dorsal fin (i.e., the sail) were measured. We suggest that extension of the dorsal fin may allow sailfish to improve the control of the bill and minimize its yaw, hence preventing disturbance of the prey. Therefore, sailfish, like other large predators, may rely mainly on accuracy of movement and the use of the extensions of their bodies, rather than resorting
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Ho, Ju-shey; Collete, Bruce B; Madinabeitia, Ione
2006-10-01
Three species of remoras--Remora brachyptera (Lowe), Remora osteochir (Cuvier), and Remora remora (Linnaeus)--were collected from 4 species of billfishes--Istiophorus platypterus (Shaw), Makaira nigricans Lacepéde, Tetrapturus albidus Poey, and Tetrapturus pfluegeri Robins and de Sylva--on board a Japanese long-liner Shoyo Maru during her cruise in 2002 across the Atlantic. However, only the marlin sucker (R. osteochir) was found to carry a parasitic copepod, Lepeophtheirus crassus (Wilson and Bere, 1936). Although 12 species of parasitic copepods have been reported from billfishes around the world ocean, none of them is L. crassus. Thus, L. crassus is considered a parasite specific to the marlin sucker.
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[Fatty acids in different edible fish species from Mexico].
Castro González, María Isabel; Rodríguez, Ana Gabriela Maafs; Galindo Gómez, Carlos
2013-12-01
Different biotic and abiotic factors determine the fatty acid (FA) composition of fish tissues and organs. This information is useful for humans due to the fact that fish consumption is associated with health benefits. The aim of the present study was to identify the variation in the concentration of fatty acids, according to different factors, among ten edible marine fish species in Mexico, collected from June to December 2009 in the largest fish market in Mexico City: Euthynnus alletteratus, Sciaenops ocellatus, Bairdiella chrysoura, Sphyraena guachancho, Symphurus elongatus, Istiophorus platypterus, Ophichthus rex, Eugerres plumieri, Eucinostomus entomelas and Oreochromrnis mossambicus. Lipid content was gravimetrically quantified, the fatty acids were determined using a gas chromatograph and the results were statistically analyzed. Total lipid content ranged from 0.93 to 1.95 g/100 g in E. entomelas and O. urolepis hornorum, respectively. E. alletteratus, B. chrysoura, S. elongatus, I. platypterus, O. rex and E. plumieri presented the following order in FA concentration: Polyunsaturated FA (PUFA)>Saturated FA (SFA)>Monounsaturated FA (MUFA). S. ocellatus, S. guachancho and E. entomelas presented SFA>PUFA>MUFA; and only O. mossambicus presented SFA>MUFA>PUFA. O. mossambicus had the highest concentration (mg/100 g) of SFA (559.40) and MUFA (442.60), while B. chrysoura presented the highest content (mg/100 g) of PUFA (663.03), n-3 PUFA (514.03), EPA+DHA (506.10) and n-6 PUFA (145.80). Biotic and abiotic factors of the analyzed fish significantly influenced their FA concentration. Subtropical species presented 42.1% more EPA+DHA than tropical specie. Values presented here will vary according to the changes in the ecosystem and characteristics of each fish species, however the information generated in the present study is useful for improving fish consumption recommendations.
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Eslava, Nora; González, Leo W; Gaertner, Daniel
2003-03-01
The longline hooks suspension depth was estimated using the Mechanic Imitation of Flexible Systems method. The vertical distribution of tunas and billfish was determined by the relative abundance index, obtained from the catch by 11 to 25 m -long longline vessels, -based at Cumaná, Venezuela, South-eastern Caribbean Sea in depths of 65 to 142 m. The CPUE was evaluated per species, according to depth. High values were found for most of the captured species in the layer from 105 to 125 m. Yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) showed the highest yield (3.37 fish/100 hooks) and blue marlin (Makaira nigricans) the lowest (0.04 fish/100 hooks). However, the statistical comparison did not allow to reject the hypothesis of lack of depth efect (Kruskal-Wallis p > .05), and demonstrated a homogeneous distribution of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), albacore (Thunnus alalunga), bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus), sailfish (Istiophorus albicans), white marlin (Tetrapturus albidus) and blue marlin (Makaira nigricans) in the water column. The conclusion is that fish concentration in the Southern border of the Caribbean Sea is possibly due to several hydroclimatic factors--which affect tuna and billfish catching--such as water temperature and dissolved oxygen concentration which limit the distribution according to depth.
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Sailfish: A flexible multi-GPU implementation of the lattice Boltzmann method
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Januszewski, M.; Kostur, M.
2014-09-01
We present Sailfish, an open source fluid simulation package implementing the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) on modern Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) using CUDA/OpenCL. We take a novel approach to GPU code implementation and use run-time code generation techniques and a high level programming language (Python) to achieve state of the art performance, while allowing easy experimentation with different LBM models and tuning for various types of hardware. We discuss the general design principles of the code, scaling to multiple GPUs in a distributed environment, as well as the GPU implementation and optimization of many different LBM models, both single component (BGK, MRT, ELBM) and multicomponent (Shan-Chen, free energy). The paper also presents results of performance benchmarks spanning the last three NVIDIA GPU generations (Tesla, Fermi, Kepler), which we hope will be useful for researchers working with this type of hardware and similar codes. Catalogue identifier: AETA_v1_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AETA_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3 No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 225864 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 46861049 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: Python, CUDA C, OpenCL. Computer: Any with an OpenCL or CUDA-compliant GPU. Operating system: No limits (tested on Linux and Mac OS X). RAM: Hundreds of megabytes to tens of gigabytes for typical cases. Classification: 12, 6.5. External routines: PyCUDA/PyOpenCL, Numpy, Mako, ZeroMQ (for multi-GPU simulations), scipy, sympy Nature of problem: GPU-accelerated simulation of single- and multi-component fluid flows. Solution method: A wide range of relaxation models (LBGK, MRT, regularized LB, ELBM, Shan-Chen, free energy, free surface) and boundary conditions within the lattice
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Larval assemblages of large and medium-sized pelagic species in the Straits of Florida
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Richardson, David E.; Llopiz, Joel K.; Guigand, Cedric M.; Cowen, Robert K.
2010-07-01
Critical gaps in our understanding of the distributions, interactions, life histories and preferred habitats of large and medium-size pelagic fishes severely constrain the implementation of ecosystem-based, spatially structured fisheries management approaches. In particular, spawning distributions and the environmental characteristics associated with the early life stages are poorly documented. In this study, we consider the diversity, assemblages, and associated habitat of the larvae of large and medium-sized pelagic species collected during 2 years of monthly surveys across the Straits of Florida. In total, 36 taxa and 14,295 individuals were collected, with the highest diversity occurring during the summer and in the western, frontal region of the Florida Current. Only a few species (e.g. Thunnus obesus, T. alalunga, Tetrapturus pfluegeri) considered for this study were absent. Small scombrids (e.g. T. atlanticus, Katsuwonus pelamis, Auxis spp.) and gempylids dominated the catch and were orders of magnitude more abundant than many of the rare species (e.g. Thunnus thynnus,Kajikia albida). Both constrained (CCA) and unconstrained (NMDS) multivariate analyses revealed a number of species groupings including: (1) a summer Florida edge assemblage (e.g. Auxis spp., Euthynnus alleterattus, Istiophorus platypterus); (2) a summer offshore assemblage (e.g. Makaira nigricans, T. atlanticus, Ruvettus pretiosus, Lampris guttatus); (3) an ubiquitous assemblage (e.g. K. pelamis, Coryphaena hippurus, Xiphias gladius); and (4) a spring/winter assemblage that was widely dispersed in space (e.g. trachipterids). The primary environmental factors associated with these assemblages were sea-surface temperature (highest in summer-early fall), day length (highest in early summer), thermocline depth (shallowest on the Florida side) and fluorescence (highest on the Florida side). Overall, the results of this study provide insights into how a remarkable diversity of pelagic species
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Quantifying circular RNA expression from RNA-seq data using model-based framework.
Li, Musheng; Xie, Xueying; Zhou, Jing; Sheng, Mengying; Yin, Xiaofeng; Ko, Eun-A; Zhou, Tong; Gu, Wanjun
2017-07-15
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs that are widely expressed in various cell lines and tissues of many organisms. Although the exact function of many circRNAs is largely unknown, the cell type-and tissue-specific circRNA expression has implicated their crucial functions in many biological processes. Hence, the quantification of circRNA expression from high-throughput RNA-seq data is becoming important to ascertain. Although many model-based methods have been developed to quantify linear RNA expression from RNA-seq data, these methods are not applicable to circRNA quantification. Here, we proposed a novel strategy that transforms circular transcripts to pseudo-linear transcripts and estimates the expression values of both circular and linear transcripts using an existing model-based algorithm, Sailfish. The new strategy can accurately estimate transcript expression of both linear and circular transcripts from RNA-seq data. Several factors, such as gene length, amount of expression and the ratio of circular to linear transcripts, had impacts on quantification performance of circular transcripts. In comparison to count-based tools, the new computational framework had superior performance in estimating the amount of circRNA expression from both simulated and real ribosomal RNA-depleted (rRNA-depleted) RNA-seq datasets. On the other hand, the consideration of circular transcripts in expression quantification from rRNA-depleted RNA-seq data showed substantial increased accuracy of linear transcript expression. Our proposed strategy was implemented in a program named Sailfish-cir. Sailfish-cir is freely available at https://github.com/zerodel/Sailfish-cir . tongz@medicine.nevada.edu or wanjun.gu@gmail.com. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com
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Li, Peipei; Piao, Yongjun; Shon, Ho Sun; Ryu, Keun Ho
2015-10-28
Recently, rapid improvements in technology and decrease in sequencing costs have made RNA-Seq a widely used technique to quantify gene expression levels. Various normalization approaches have been proposed, owing to the importance of normalization in the analysis of RNA-Seq data. A comparison of recently proposed normalization methods is required to generate suitable guidelines for the selection of the most appropriate approach for future experiments. In this paper, we compared eight non-abundance (RC, UQ, Med, TMM, DESeq, Q, RPKM, and ERPKM) and two abundance estimation normalization methods (RSEM and Sailfish). The experiments were based on real Illumina high-throughput RNA-Seq of 35- and 76-nucleotide sequences produced in the MAQC project and simulation reads. Reads were mapped with human genome obtained from UCSC Genome Browser Database. For precise evaluation, we investigated Spearman correlation between the normalization results from RNA-Seq and MAQC qRT-PCR values for 996 genes. Based on this work, we showed that out of the eight non-abundance estimation normalization methods, RC, UQ, Med, TMM, DESeq, and Q gave similar normalization results for all data sets. For RNA-Seq of a 35-nucleotide sequence, RPKM showed the highest correlation results, but for RNA-Seq of a 76-nucleotide sequence, least correlation was observed than the other methods. ERPKM did not improve results than RPKM. Between two abundance estimation normalization methods, for RNA-Seq of a 35-nucleotide sequence, higher correlation was obtained with Sailfish than that with RSEM, which was better than without using abundance estimation methods. However, for RNA-Seq of a 76-nucleotide sequence, the results achieved by RSEM were similar to without applying abundance estimation methods, and were much better than with Sailfish. Furthermore, we found that adding a poly-A tail increased alignment numbers, but did not improve normalization results. Spearman correlation analysis revealed that RC, UQ
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Opportunistic predation by a broad-winged hawk on a southern flying squirrel
Daniel Saenz; Richard R. Schaefer
1995-01-01
Broad-winged Hawks (Buteo platypterus) take a wide variety of prey, including numerous small mammal species (Rusch and Doerr 1972; Fitch 1974; Mosher and Matray 1974; Rosenfield et al. 1984; and Toland 1986). Flying squirrels (Glaucomys spp.) are probably not regular prey of diurnal raptors due to the squirrel's nocturnal...
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Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
2012-08-21
..., West Atlantic sailfish, or North Atlantic swordfish in states (and the United States Virgin Islands and... Collection; Comment Request; Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Recreational Landings Reports AGENCY: National... provides important data used to monitor catches of Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS) and supplements...
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Castro-González, Maria Isabel; Maafs-Rodríguez, Ana Gabriela; Pérez-Gil Romo, Fernando
2012-06-01
Because renal disease is highly complex, its nutritional treatment is complicated and many foods are restricted, including fish because its phosphorus content. The aim of the present study was to analyze ten fillet fish species, commonly consumed in Mexico (Cyprinus carpio carpio, Ophichthus rex, Symphurus elongatus, Eucinostomus entomelas, Chirostoma patzcuaro, Bairdiella chrysoura, Salmo salar Oreochromis urolepis hornorum, Sphyraena guachancho, Istiophorus albicans), to determine their phosphorus (P), protein (Pr), cholesterol, sodium, potassium, vitamins D3 and E, and n-3 PUFA (EPA+DHA) according to the AOAC techniques, in order to identify which species could be included in renal diet; particularly because of their risk:benefit relations (calculated with those results). Protein values ranged from 16.5 to 33.5g/100 g of fillet; the specie with the highest phosphorus contest was Salmo salar, and with the lowest, Symphurus elongatus. EPA+DHA quantity ranged from 79.64 mg/100 g to 1,381.53 mg/100 g. Considering de P/Pr relation recommended to renal patients, all analyzed species (except Salmo salar, Ophichthus rex and Istiophorus albicans) could be included in their diet. As for the P/EPA+DHA relation, the species most recommended to renal patients are Symphurus elongatus, Bairdiella chrysoura and Sphyraena guachancho.
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RNA-Skim: a rapid method for RNA-Seq quantification at transcript level
Zhang, Zhaojun; Wang, Wei
2014-01-01
Motivation: RNA-Seq technique has been demonstrated as a revolutionary means for exploring transcriptome because it provides deep coverage and base pair-level resolution. RNA-Seq quantification is proven to be an efficient alternative to Microarray technique in gene expression study, and it is a critical component in RNA-Seq differential expression analysis. Most existing RNA-Seq quantification tools require the alignments of fragments to either a genome or a transcriptome, entailing a time-consuming and intricate alignment step. To improve the performance of RNA-Seq quantification, an alignment-free method, Sailfish, has been recently proposed to quantify transcript abundances using all k-mers in the transcriptome, demonstrating the feasibility of designing an efficient alignment-free method for transcriptome quantification. Even though Sailfish is substantially faster than alternative alignment-dependent methods such as Cufflinks, using all k-mers in the transcriptome quantification impedes the scalability of the method. Results: We propose a novel RNA-Seq quantification method, RNA-Skim, which partitions the transcriptome into disjoint transcript clusters based on sequence similarity, and introduces the notion of sig-mers, which are a special type of k-mers uniquely associated with each cluster. We demonstrate that the sig-mer counts within a cluster are sufficient for estimating transcript abundances with accuracy comparable with any state-of-the-art method. This enables RNA-Skim to perform transcript quantification on each cluster independently, reducing a complex optimization problem into smaller optimization tasks that can be run in parallel. As a result, RNA-Skim uses <4% of the k-mers and <10% of the CPU time required by Sailfish. It is able to finish transcriptome quantification in <10 min per sample by using just a single thread on a commodity computer, which represents >100 speedup over the state-of-the-art alignment-based methods, while delivering
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Wolff, Alexander; Bayerlová, Michaela; Gaedcke, Jochen; Kube, Dieter; Beißbarth, Tim
2018-01-01
Pipeline comparisons for gene expression data are highly valuable for applied real data analyses, as they enable the selection of suitable analysis strategies for the dataset at hand. Such pipelines for RNA-Seq data should include mapping of reads, counting and differential gene expression analysis or preprocessing, normalization and differential gene expression in case of microarray analysis, in order to give a global insight into pipeline performances. Four commonly used RNA-Seq pipelines (STAR/HTSeq-Count/edgeR, STAR/RSEM/edgeR, Sailfish/edgeR, TopHat2/Cufflinks/CuffDiff)) were investigated on multiple levels (alignment and counting) and cross-compared with the microarray counterpart on the level of gene expression and gene ontology enrichment. For these comparisons we generated two matched microarray and RNA-Seq datasets: Burkitt Lymphoma cell line data and rectal cancer patient data. The overall mapping rate of STAR was 98.98% for the cell line dataset and 98.49% for the patient dataset. Tophat's overall mapping rate was 97.02% and 96.73%, respectively, while Sailfish had only an overall mapping rate of 84.81% and 54.44%. The correlation of gene expression in microarray and RNA-Seq data was moderately worse for the patient dataset (ρ = 0.67-0.69) than for the cell line dataset (ρ = 0.87-0.88). An exception were the correlation results of Cufflinks, which were substantially lower (ρ = 0.21-0.29 and 0.34-0.53). For both datasets we identified very low numbers of differentially expressed genes using the microarray platform. For RNA-Seq we checked the agreement of differentially expressed genes identified in the different pipelines and of GO-term enrichment results. In conclusion the combination of STAR aligner with HTSeq-Count followed by STAR aligner with RSEM and Sailfish generated differentially expressed genes best suited for the dataset at hand and in agreement with most of the other transcriptomics pipelines.
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Surveying woodland hawks with broadcasts of great horned owl vocalization
Mosher, James A.; Fuller, Mark R.
1996-01-01
Pre-recorded vocalizations of great horned owls (Bubo virginianus) broadcast into predominantly wooded habitat along roadside survey routes resulted in as many detections of resident red-shouldered hawks (Buteo lineatus) and Cooper's hawks (Accipiter cooperii) as broadcasts of each conspecific calls. Survey results for 3 species, expressed as average number of contacts/route, were directly related to the number of resident pairs located during systematic searches conducted on foot across the study area. Regression models based on road-transect counts were significant for predicting abundance of red-shouldered hawks, broad-winged hawks (Buteo platypterus), and Cooper's hawks from our study areas.
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NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
1988-01-01
ROFFS stands for Roffer's Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service, Inc. Roffer combines satellite and computer technology with oceanographic information from several sources to produce frequently updated charts sometimes as often as 30 times a day showing clues to the location of marlin, sailfish, tuna, swordfish and a variety of other types. Also provides customized forecasts for racing boats and the shipping industry along with seasonal forecasts that allow the marine industry to formulate fishing strategies based on foreknowledge of the arrival and departure times of different fish. Roffs service exemplifies the potential for benefits to marine industries from satellite observations. Most notable results are reduced search time and substantial fuel savings.
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Surveying woodland raptors by broadcast of conspecific vocalizations
Mosher, J.A.; Fuller, M.R.; Kopeny, M.
1990-01-01
We surveyed for raptors in forests on study areas in five of the eastern United States. For Cooper's Hawks (Accipiter cooperi), Red-shouldered Hawks (Buteo lineatus), and Barred Owls (Strix varia) the contact rates obtained by broadcasting taped vocalizations of conspecifics along roads were significantly greater than contact rates obtained by only looking and listening from the roadside. Broad-winged Hawks (B. platypterus) were detected only after their calls were broadcast. Most raptors were detected within 10 min of the beginning of the broadcasts. Red-tailed Hawks (B. jamaicensis) and Goshawks (A. gentilis) nested infrequently on our study areas, and we were unable to increase detections of these species. Generally, point count transects along woodland roads, from which conspecific vocalizations were broadcast, resulted in higher species specific detection rates than when walking, driving continuously, or only looking and listening for raptors at roadside stops.
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78 FR 18475 - Special Local Regulations; Stuart Sailfish Regatta, Indian River; Stuart, FL
Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
2013-03-27
... Cove that are encompassed within an imaginary line connecting the following points: Starting at Point 1 in position 27[deg]12'46'' N, 80[deg]11'10'' W; thence southeast to Point 2 in position 27[deg]12'41'' N, 80[deg]11'09'' W; thence southwest to Point 3 in position 27[deg]12'37'' N, 80[deg]11'11'' W...
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78 FR 1792 - Special Local Regulations, Stuart Sailfish Regatta, Indian River; Stuart, FL
Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
2013-01-09
... that are encompassed within an imaginary line connecting the following points: starting at Point 1 in position 27[deg]12'46'' N, 80[deg]11'09'' W; thence southeast to Point 2 in position 27[deg]12'41'' N, 80[deg]11'08'' W; thence southwest to Point 3 in position 27[deg]12'37'' N, 80[deg]11'11'' W; thence...
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NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
2005-01-01
Every angler has his secrets, whether it be an old family recipe for stink bait, a midnight worm-hunting ritual, or the most coveted of all, the no-fail fishing hole. Most of these secrets are lore and legend, passed through generations, and coveted more than the family s best tableware. Each of these kernels of wisdom promises the fisherman a bite at the end of the line, but very few are rooted in fact and science. There is one, though.... NASA partnered with a company on the bayous of Mississippi and Louisiana to use satellite data to create a marine information system, a space-age fish finder. This product provides up-to-date information about the location of a variety of fish, including yellowfin tuna, bluefish, blue marlin, white marlin, sailfish, blackfin tuna, little tunny, and swordfish. The system shows peaked catch rates, and may be the only true fish-finding product on the market.
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Recent trends in counts of migrant hawks from northeastern North America
Titus, K.; Fuller, M.R.
1990-01-01
Using simple regression, pooled-sites route-regression, and nonparametric rank-trend analyses, we evaluated trends in counts of hawks migrating past 6 eastern hawk lookouts from 1972 to 1987. The indexing variable was the total count for a season. Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), merlin (F. columbarius), osprey (Pandion haliaetus), and Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii) counts increased using route-regression and nonparametric methods (P 0.10). We found no consistent trends (P > 0.10) in counts of sharp-shinned hawks (A. striatus), northern goshawks (A. gentilis) red-shouldered hawks (Buteo lineatus), red-tailed hawks (B. jamaicensis), rough-legged hawsk (B. lagopus), and American kestrels (F. sparverius). Broad-winged hawk (B. platypterus) counts declined (P < 0.05) based on the route-regression method. Empirical comparisons of our results with those for well-studied species such as the peregrine falcon, bald eagle, and osprey indicated agreement with nesting surveys. We suggest that counts of migrant hawks are a useful and economical method for detecting long-term trends in species across regions, particularly for species that otherwise cannot be easily surveyed.
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Nesting ecology and behavior of Broad-winged Hawks in moist karst forests of Puerto Rico
Hengstenberg, D.W.; Vilella, F.J.
2005-01-01
The Puerto Rican Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus brunnescens) is an endemic and endangered subspecies inhabiting upland montane forests of Puerto Rico. The reproductive ecology, behavior, and nesting habitat of the Broad-winged Hawk were studied in Ri??o Abajo Forest, Puerto Rico, from 2001-02. We observed 158 courtship displays by Broad-winged Hawks. Also, we recorded 25 territorial interactions between resident Broad-winged Hawks and intruding Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis jamaicensis). Broad-winged Hawks displaced intruding Red-tailed Hawks from occupied territories (P = 0.009). Mayfield nest survival was 0.67 across breeding seasons (0.81 in 2001, N = 6; 0.51 in 2002, N = 4), and pairs averaged 1.1 young per nest (years combined). The birds nested in mixed species timber plantations and mature secondary forest. Nests were placed in the upper reaches of large trees emerging from the canopy. Nest tree DBH, understory stem density, and distance to karst cliff wall correctly classified (77.8%) nest sites. ?? 2005 The Raptor Research Foundation, Inc.
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Ruggeri, Marco; Major, James C.; McKeown, Craig; Knighton, Robert W.; Puliafito, Carmen A.
2010-01-01
Purpose. To reveal three-dimensional (3-D) information about the retinal structures of birds of prey in vivo. Methods. An ultra-high resolution spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) system was built for in vivo imaging of retinas of birds of prey. The calibrated imaging depth and axial resolution of the system were 3.1 mm and 2.8 μm (in tissue), respectively. 3-D segmentation was performed for calculation of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) map. Results. High-resolution OCT images were obtained of the retinas of four species of birds of prey: two diurnal hawks (Buteo platypterus and Buteo brachyurus) and two nocturnal owls (Bubo virginianus and Strix varia). These images showed the detailed retinal anatomy, including the retinal layers and the structure of the deep and shallow foveae. The calculated thickness map showed the RNFL distribution. Traumatic injury to one bird's retina was also successfully imaged. Conclusions. Ultra-high resolution SD-OCT provides unprecedented high-quality 2-D and 3-D in vivo visualization of the retinal structures of birds of prey. SD-OCT is a powerful imaging tool for vision research in birds of prey. PMID:20554605
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Antibody Prevalence and Isolation of Viable Toxoplasma gondii from Raptors in the Southeastern USA.
Love, David; Kwok, Oliver C; Verma, Shiv Kumar; Dubey, Jitender P; Bellah, Jamie
2016-07-01
Raptors are good indicators of the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in the environment because they prey on small mammals and birds. These prey species are a major source of infection in domestic cats ( Felis catus ), which shed the environmentally resistant oocysts. We assessed T. gondii infection in 281 opportunistically available raptors at a rehabilitation facility between 2012 and 2014. Antibodies to T. gondii were assayed by a modified agglutination test (cutoff 1:25) and found in serum of 22/71 Red-tailed Hawks ( Buteo jamaicensis ), 25/54 Barred Owls ( Strix varia ), 9/41 Red-shouldered Hawks ( Buteo lineatus ), 13/28 Great Horned Owls ( Bubo virginianus ), 6/20 Broad-winged Hawks ( Buteo platypterus ), 2/16 Eastern Screech Owls (Megascops asio), 12/13 Bald Eagles ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus ), 6/12 Cooper's Hawks ( Accipiter cooperii ), 1/8 Black Vultures ( Coragyps atratus ), and 1/1 Golden Eagle ( Aquila chrysaetos ). Antibodies were not detected in 5 Barn Owls ( Tyto alba ), 3 American Kestrels ( Falco sparverius ), 1 Mississippi Kite ( Ictinia mississippiensis ), and 1 Osprey ( Pandion haliaetus ). Viable T. gondii was isolated from the tissues of 1 antibody-positive Barred Owl and identified as a strain having type II alleles at all 10 loci tested, except one (ToxoDB polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism genotype 3). Type II strain is the most common strain in the US. Results of this study indicate a high prevalence of T. gondii in some raptor species and the first reported genotyping from a Barred Owl.
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An optimized protocol for generation and analysis of Ion Proton sequencing reads for RNA-Seq.
Yuan, Yongxian; Xu, Huaiqian; Leung, Ross Ka-Kit
2016-05-26
Previous studies compared running cost, time and other performance measures of popular sequencing platforms. However, comprehensive assessment of library construction and analysis protocols for Proton sequencing platform remains unexplored. Unlike Illumina sequencing platforms, Proton reads are heterogeneous in length and quality. When sequencing data from different platforms are combined, this can result in reads with various read length. Whether the performance of the commonly used software for handling such kind of data is satisfactory is unknown. By using universal human reference RNA as the initial material, RNaseIII and chemical fragmentation methods in library construction showed similar result in gene and junction discovery number and expression level estimated accuracy. In contrast, sequencing quality, read length and the choice of software affected mapping rate to a much larger extent. Unspliced aligner TMAP attained the highest mapping rate (97.27 % to genome, 86.46 % to transcriptome), though 47.83 % of mapped reads were clipped. Long reads could paradoxically reduce mapping in junctions. With reference annotation guide, the mapping rate of TopHat2 significantly increased from 75.79 to 92.09 %, especially for long (>150 bp) reads. Sailfish, a k-mer based gene expression quantifier attained highly consistent results with that of TaqMan array and highest sensitivity. We provided for the first time, the reference statistics of library preparation methods, gene detection and quantification and junction discovery for RNA-Seq by the Ion Proton platform. Chemical fragmentation performed equally well with the enzyme-based one. The optimal Ion Proton sequencing options and analysis software have been evaluated.
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Rooker, Jay R.; Kitchens, Larissa L.; Dance, Michael A.; Wells, R. J. David; Falterman, Brett; Cornic, Maëlle
2013-01-01
Time-series data collected over a four-year period were used to characterize patterns of abundance for pelagic fishes in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM) before (2007–2009) and after (2010) the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Four numerically dominant pelagic species (blackfin tuna, blue marlin, dolphinfish, and sailfish) were included in our assessment, and larval density of each species was lower in 2010 than any of the three years prior to the oil spill, although larval abundance in 2010 was often statistically similar to other years surveyed. To assess potential overlap between suitable habitat of pelagic fish larvae and surface oil, generalized additive models (GAMs) were developed to evaluate the influence of ocean conditions on the abundance of larvae from 2007–2009. Explanatory variables from GAMs were then linked to environmental data from 2010 to predict the probability of occurrence for each species. The spatial extent of surface oil overlapped with early life habitat of each species, possibly indicating that the availability of high quality habitat was affected by the DH oil spill. Shifts in the distribution of spawning adults is another factor known to influence the abundance of larvae, and the spatial occurrence of a model pelagic predator (blue marlin) was characterized over the same four-year period using electronic tags. The spatial extent of oil coincided with areas used by adult blue marlin from 2007–2009, and the occurrence of blue marlin in areas impacted by the DH oil spill was lower in 2010 relative to pre-spill years. PMID:24130759
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Choi, Haecheon
2009-11-01
Bio-mimetic engineering or bio-mimetics is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology (from Wikipedia). The concept itself is old, but successful developments have been made recently, especially in the research field of flow control. The objective of flow control based on the bio-mimetic approach is to develop novel concepts for reducing drag, increasing lift and enhancing aerodynamic performance. For skin friction reduction, a few ideas have been suggested such as the riblet from shark, compliant surface from dolphin, microbubble injection and multiple front-body curvature from penguin, and V-shaped protrusion from sailfish. For form drag reduction, several new attempts have been also made recently. Examples include the V-shaped spanwise grooves from saguaro cactus, overall shape of box fish, longitudinal grooves on scallop shell, bill of swordfish, hooked comb on owl wing, trailing-edge protrusion on dragonfly wing, and fillet. For the enhancement of aerodynamic performance, focuses have been made on the birds, fish and insects: e.g., double layered feather of landing bird, leading-edge serration of humpback-whale flipper, pectoral fin of flying fish, long tail on swallowtail-butterfly wing, wing flapping motion of dragonfly, and alula in birds. Living animals adapt their bodies to better performance in multi purposes, but engineering requires single purpose in most cases. Therefore, bio-mimetic approaches often produce excellent results more than expected. However, they are sometimes based on people's wrong understanding of nature and produce unwanted results. Successes and failures from bio-mimetic approaches in flow control will be discussed in the presentation.
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Miller, M.W.; Greenstone, E.M.; Greenstone, W.; Bildstein, K.L.
2002-01-01
The Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus) breeds in eastern and central Canada and the United States, and winters in Central America and northern and central South America. Birders and ornithologists count migrating Broad-winged Hawks at dozens of traditional watch sites throughout the northeastern United States. We modeled counts of migrating Broad-winged Hawks from two raptor migration watch sites: Montclair Hawk Lookout, New Jersey, and Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Pennsylvania, to determine whether annual abundance and trend estimates from individual sites within the mid-Atlantic states are representative of the region as a whole. We restricted ourselves to counts made between 10:00 and 16:00 EST during September to standardize count effort between sites. We created one model set for annual counts and another model set for daily counts. When modeling daily counts we incorporated weather and identity of individual observers. Akaike's Information Criteria were used to select the best model from an initial set of competing models. Annual counts declined at both sites during 1979-1998. Broad-winged Hawk migration began, peaked, and ended later at Montclair than at Hawk Mountain, even though Hawk Mountain is 155 km west-southwest of Montclair. Mean annual counts of hawks at Montclair were more than twice those at Hawk Mountain, but were not correlated. Broad-winged Hawks counted at Montclair may not be the same birds as those counted at Hawk Mountain. Rather, the two sites may be monitoring different regional subpopulations. Broad-winged Hawks counted at the two sites may use different migration tactics, with those counted at Hawk Mountain being more likely to slope soar, and those at Montclair more likely to use thermal soaring. A system of multiple watch sites is needed to monitor various breeding populations of this widely dispersed migrant.
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lucena-Frédou, Flávia; Kell, Laurie; Frédou, Thierry; Gaertner, Daniel; Potier, Michel; Bach, Pascal; Travassos, Paulo; Hazin, Fábio; Ménard, Frédéric
2017-06-01
Productivity and Susceptibility Analysis (PSA) is a methodology for evaluating the vulnerability of a stock based on its biological productivity and susceptibility to fishing. In this study, we evaluated the vulnerability of 60 stocks of tuna, billfishes and other teleosts caught by the tuna longline fleets operating in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean using a semi-quantitative PSA. We (a) evaluated the vulnerability of the species in the study areas; (b) compared the vulnerability of target and non-target species and oceans; (c) analyzed the sensitivity of data entry; and (d) compared the results of the PSA to other fully quantitative assessment methods. Istiophoridae exhibited the highest scores for vulnerability. The top 10 species at risk were: Atlantic Istiophorus albicans; Indian Ocean Istiompax indica; Atlantic Makaira nigricans and Thunnus alalunga; Indian Ocean Xiphias gladius; Atlantic T. albacares, Gempylus serpens, Ranzania laevis and X. gladius; and Indian Ocean T. alalunga. All species considered at high risk were targeted or were commercialized bycatch, except for the Atlantic G. serpens and R. laevis which were discarded, and may be considered as a false positive. Those species and others at high risk should be prioritized for further assessment and/or data collection. Most species at moderate risk were bycatch species kept for sale. Conversely, species classified at low risk were mostly discarded. Overall, species at high risk were overfished and/or subjected to overfishing. Moreover, all species considered to be within extinction risk (Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable) were in the high-risk category. The good concordance between approaches corroborates the results of our analysis. PSA is not a replacement for traditional stock assessments, where a stock is assessed at regular intervals to provide management advice. It is of importance, however, where there is uncertainty about catches and life history parameters, since it can