Environmental oestrogens and sexual development in fish

This brief paper discusses the assumption that watercourses might be harbouring a chemical(s) affecting the sexual development in fish. Male fish was found with the oestrogen-dependent blood protein, vitellogenin, usually found only in maturing females. The author examines a number of man-made chemicals present in the environment have been found to be oestrogenic. The paper concludes that rivers contain environmental oestrogens that are capable of causing disruptions in the sexual development of fish. Whether or not these environmental oestrogens are causing a widespread disruption in reproduction in wild fish, however, has yet to be determined.

Estimation of growth and financial analysis through the application of Ipil ipil (Leucaena leucocephala) leaf meal as supplements to soybean and fish meal in the diet of juvenile monosex tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

Among plant protein ingredients,ipil ipil (Leucaena leucocephala) leafmeal (ILLM) is considered the most nutritive plant protein source after soybean meal in aquatic feeds. That was proven in a 21-day experiment conducted to assess the response of juvenile Monosex Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus with four iso-nitrogenous formulated diets: One control diet was formulated based on fishmeal, one on soybean meal and one on rice bran, ipil ipil leafmeal was also included in experimental diets.

Restoration of a brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) population to Loch Enoch, an acified Loch in Galloway, South-West Scotland

The authors present the findings of a restoration project in Loch Enoch in Scotland. There are historical references that brown trout was present in Loch Enoch up to the 1920s but it is believed the acidity of loch triggered the disappearance of Salmo trutta. The recent observed reduction in the acidity of L. Enoch to a level close to that found in nearby lochs with trout populations, suggested that trout might now survive in L. Enoch. For a population to survive, all stages in the life-cycle of a species must be able to develop. Accordingly, tests were undertaken, first with eggs and fry. The availability of food was also studied. In October 1994, 3,000 yearling trout of L. Grannoch origin which had been reared in a local hatchery were distributed throughout the loch. The fish population was studied from 1995-98. The authors conclude that survival of the trout population is possible if the acidity of the loch water remains low.

The decline of migratory salmonid stocks: a new threat to pearl mussels in Scotland

The general decline of the endangered freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera (L.) throughout its holarctic range is well documented. Scotland is considered to be a stronghold of margaritifera, containing approximately half of the world's known remaining viable populations. However, even here the majority of populations have declined and many have disappeared completely. This article provides an overview of the freshwater pearl mussel life-cycle and the life-cycle of salmonids which are the host fish during the freshwater mussels short parasitic larval phase. The authors highlight the potential implications of the decline of salmonids for freshwater populations in Scotland.

Recent research in the African Great Lakes: fisheries, biodiversity and cichlid evolution

The East African Great Lakes are now well known for (1) their fisheries, of vital importance for their rapidly rising riparian human populations, and (2) as biodiversity hotspots with spectacular endemic faunas, of which the flocks of cichlid fishes unique to each of the three largest lakes, Tanganyika, Malawi and Victoria, offer unique opportunities to investigate how new species evolve and coexist. Since the early 1990s research involving over a hundred scientists, financed by many international bodies, has produced numerous reports and publications in widely scattered journals. This article summarizes their main discoveries and examines the status of, and prospects for, the fisheries, as well as current ideas on how their rich endemic fish faunas have evolved. It first considers fisheries projects in each of the three lakes: the deep rift valley lakes Tanganyika and Malawi and the huge Victoria, all of which share their waters between several East African countries. Secondly it considers the biodiversity surveys of each lake, based on underwater (SCUBA) observations of fish ecology and behaviour which have revealed threats to their fish faunas, and considers what conservation measures are needed. Thirdly, using the lakes as laboratories, what have the international investigations (including DNA techniques and follow-up aquarium experiments) now revealed about the origins and relationships of their cichlid species flocks and mechanisms of evolution?

The temperature dependence of the development of the embryo in Mesocyclops leuckarti (Claus) and Cyclops scutifer

This work is mainly intended as an addition to the studies of the populations dynamics of Cyclops scutifer, which is part of the ”Latn ja jaure project” (a study of the principles involved in the ecosystem of a small -initially fish free- mountain lake, before and after the introduction of fish). The field work consisted of sampling in Lake Erken in Roslagen in June, July and September, as well as in Latn ja jaure in the Abisko mountains in August and September of 1965. Additional sampling was done in Latn ja jaure for the study of the horizontal, vertical and temporal distribution of Cyclops scutifer, as well as the in situ development of the different stages. These samples have been analysed in such a way as to fit into the frame work of future studies on the population dynamics of Cyclops scutifer, The main aim of the present investigation is the determination of the dependence upon tempera- tare of the development of the embryo in the subarctic Cyclops scutifer as compared with the conditions found in the warm water species Mesocyclops leuckarti.

On the methods of determining size/weight characteristics of food organisms of fish. (Determination of the length of Copepoda in larval stages by egg-laying females of the free living freshwater Copepoda). [Translation from: Voprosy Ikhtiologii 14, 182-194, 1960. ]

As is known, copepods play an important role in the nutrition of fish. Therefore with a view to facilitating research on the study of the quantitative side of feeding, there have recently appeared a considerable number of papers devoted to the development of methods for determining the wet. weight of these crustaceans. For the further facilitating of research in the nutrition of fish it would be of great interest to clarify the problem, is there not some kind of rule in the growth of the crustaceans during metamorphosis, and if there is such a rule is it not possible, to determine the length of the larvae at each stage, not by measuring them, but by using the formulae derived on the basis of these rules. This article examines the growth curves of different species of freshwater Copepoda, obtained on the basis of experimental observations in cultures or by way of measurement of mass material at all stages of development in samples from water-bodies. The authors study in particular the ratio of the mean diameter of the eggs to the mean length of the egg-bearing females.

Some biological features of Saprolegnia parasitica Coker - cause of fish dermatomycosis. [Translation from: Pervaya nauchnaya konferentsiya molodykh Uchenykh Biologov (Tezisy Dokladov) pp.84-86. Kiev, A.N.Ukr. SSR., 1964]

Parasitic and infectious diseases of fish, of wide distribution in fish-rearing ponds, retard to a significant extent the development of fish culture in the Ukraine. One of the diseases of fish attracting attention in connection with the general distribution of its causative agent, the fungus Saprolegnia parasitica Coker, in water-bodies of various types, appears to be dermatomycosis. The aim of this investigation is to study the conditions favouring the development of S. parasitica. Among the studied factors were water temperature and oxygen content.

Reaction of fish to light (”Conclusions” only). [Translation from: Voprosy Ikhtiologii 6 17-20, 1956]

Qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the reaction of certain fish to light were tested and reasons for the attraction of certain fish to light are discussed.

Studies on the mouth size of fish larvae. Method and conclusions only [Translation from: Bulletin of the Japanese Society of Scientific Fisheries 36, 353-368, 1970]

This study was conducted to look into the relationship between mouth size and the total length of larval fish, and the growth in total length of larval fish in one or within a one-year period. Study material was gathered in the South China Sea, the Bay of Bangkok and the Vietnamese coast. This translation focuses on methods and conclusions of the original (longer) paper.

Changes in Fish Communities in the Upper Patuxent River from 1966 to 1977

Ten year comparison of fish survey's with respect to diversity evenness and composition of fish communities. The upper Patuxent River was divided into Piedmont Plateau and Coastal Plain regions, not only for geographical purposes, but also because of the clustering of sewage treatment plants in the Coastal Plain region. In the Piedmont Plateau region, the fish species diversity changed very little from 1966 to 1977 ( Little Patuxent -- 2.82 to 2.66; Middle Patuxent -- 2.86 to 2.83; and main stem -- 2.46 to 2.63), except in a section of Little Patuxent River at and below the City of Columbia where the species diversity index showed a significant reduction from 2.97 to 1.99, and in a section of the main stem Patuxent River immediately downstream from the Brighton Dam of the Triadelphia Reservoir where the index increased significantly from 1.66 to 3.20. In the Coastal Plain region, a significant reduction in the fish species diversity index occurred between 1966 and 1977 below the two sewage treatment plant outfalls : Savage -- 2.69 to 0 and Patuxent-Crofton -- 3.06 to 1.33. Also, the substantial reduction in the species diversity index which had already occurred in 1966 below the six other plant: outfalls of Fort Meade No. I, Fort Meade No. 2, Maryland House of Correction, Maryland City , Parkway and Bowie, remained depressed in 1977. On the other hand, below the Horsepen Sewage Treatment Plant (a tertiary plant practicing dechlorination) the species diversity index increased from 1.91 to 2.8. (PDF contains 48 pages)

Predation and selection in copepod populations of Alpine waters [Translation from: Bollettino di Zoologia 21 541-545, 1954]

Zooplankton was studied in four alpine lakes in Switzerland, France and Italy. The presence the presence of the invertebrate predator Heterocope in three lakes was stated. It is then discussed why in three of these four lakes, the copepod Arctodiaptomus denticornis is present in the absence of Arctodiaptomus bacillifer, and vice versa respectively in the second and first parts of the lacustrine summer.