Spatial and temporal analysis of bottlenose dolphin strandings in South Carolina, 1992-2005

This CD contains summary data of bottlenose dolphins stranded in South Carolina using a Geographical Information System (GIS) and contains two published manuscripts in .pdf files. The intent of this CD is to provide data on bottlenose dolphin strandings in South Carolina to marine mammal researchers and managers. This CD is an accumulation of 14 years of stranding data collected through the collaborations of the National Ocean Service, Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research (CCEHBR), the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, and numerous volunteers and veterinarians that comprised the South Carolina Marine Mammal Stranding Network. Spatial and temporal information can be visually represented on maps using GIS. For this CD, maps were created to show relationships of stranding densities with land use, human population density, human interaction with dolphins, high geographical regions of live strandings, and seasonal changes. Point maps were also created to show individual strandings within South Carolina. In summary, spatial analysis revealed higher densities of bottlenose dolphin strandings in Charleston and Beaufort Counties, which consist of urban land with agricultural input. This trend was positively correlated with higher human population levels in these coastal counties as compared with other coastal counties. However, spatial analysis revealed that certain areas within a county may have low human population levels but high stranding density, suggesting that the level of effort to respond to strandings is not necessarily positively correlated with the density of strandings in South Carolina. Temporal analysis revealed a significantly higher density of bottlenose dolphin strandings in the northern portion of the State in the fall, mostly due to an increase of neonate strandings. On a finer geographic scale, seasonal stranding densities may fluctuate depending on the region of interest. Charleston Harbor had the highest density of live bottlenose dolphin strandings compared to the rest of the State. This was due in large part to the number of live dolphin entanglements in the crab pot fishery, the largest source of fishery-related mortality for bottlenose dolphins in South Carolina (Burdett and McFee 2004). Spatial density calculations also revealed that Charleston and Beaufort accounted for the majority of dolphins that were involved with human activities. 1

Venomics and biological analysis of Scatophagus argus argus (Spotted scat) venom isolated in Persian Gulf, extraction and purification of hemolytic protein

Green scat namely as Scatophagus argus argus is a venomous aquarium fish belonging to Scatophagidae family. It can induce painful wounds in injured hand with partial paralysis to whom that touch the spines. Dorsal and ventral rough spines contain cells that produce venom with toxic activities. According to unpublished data collected from local hospitals in southern coastal region of Iran, S. argus is reported as a venomous fish. Envenomation induces clinical symptoms such as local pain, partial paralysis, erythema and itching. In the present study green scat (spotted scat) was collected from Persian Gulf coastal waters. SDS-PAGE indicated 12 distinct bands in the venom ranged between 10-250 KDa. The crude venom had hemolytic activity on human erythrocytes (1%) with an LC100 (Lytic Concentration) of about 1.7 μg. The crude venom can release 813 μg proteins from 0.5% casein. Phospholipase C activity was recorded at 3.125 μg of total venom. Our findings showed that the edematic activity remained over 48 h after injection. The purification of the venom was done by HPLC and 30 peaks were obtained within 80 min but only one peak in 68 min retention time showed hemolytic activity at 90% acetonitril was isolated. The area percentage of the hemolytic protein showed that this hemolytic protein consist of 32 percent of total proteins and its molecular weight was 72 KDa in SDS_PAGE. The results demonstrated that crude venom extracted from Iranian coastal border has different toxic and enzymatic activities.