Preliminary studies on food and feeding habits of Polypterus endlicheri and Polypterus senegalus in Lake Chad

The food and feeding habits of Polyprerus cncllicheri and Polypterus senegalus was carried out in the months of September to October. The food of 33 Polypierus endlicheri as observed include Tilapia species (89.3%), Eutropius niloticus (28.6%), Mayfly nymph (39.3%), Dragon fly larva (56.6%) fish remains (21.4%) and detritus (7.1%). The food of27 Polypterus senegalus as observed include Tilapia sp (88.4%), Eutropius niloticus (27.9%), may fly nymph (23.3%), Dragonfly nymph (34.9%) remains (21.1%) detritus (23.3%). (9 page document) The percentage occurrence of food item found in the stomach of Polypterus endlieheri is 93.3% while that of Polyprerus senegalus is 67.4%. The dominance of Tilapia sp was establish in the study, and there is no significant difference between the feeding habit of Polypterus endlicheri and Polyprerus senegalus.

A Preliminary Check-List of the Marine Algae of the Moss Landing Jetty: An Annotated Floristic Compilation. Annual Report, Part 7, 1973

(PDF contains 55 pages)

Preliminary keys to otoliths of some adult fishes of the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, and Beaufort Sea

Keys and outline drawings are provided for the identification of the otoliths of 142 species of marine fishes from the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, and Beaufort Sea. (PDF contains 40 pages)

Characterization of Navassa National Wildlife Refuge: A preliminary report for NF-06-05 (NOAA ship "Nancy Foster", April 18-30, 2006)

Navassa is a small, undeveloped island in the Windward Passage between Jamaica and Haiti. It was designated a National Wildlife Refuge under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1999, but the remote location makes management and enforcement challenging, and the area is regularly fished by artisanal fishermen from Haiti. In April 2006, the NOAA Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research conducted a research cruise to Navassa. The cruise produced the first high-resolution multibeam bathymetry for the area, which will facilitate habitat mapping and assist in refuge management. A major emphasis of the cruise was to study the impact of Haitian fishing gear on benthic habitats and fish communities; however, in 10 days on station only one small boat was observed with five fishermen and seven traps. Fifteen monitoring stations were established to characterize fish and benthic communities along the deep (28-34 m) shelf, as these areas have been largely unstudied by previous cruises. The fish communities included numerous squirrelfishes, triggerfishes, and parrotfishes. Snappers and grouper were also present but no small individuals were observed. Similarly, conch surveys indicated the population was in low abundance and was heavily skewed towards adults. Analysis of the benthic photoquadrats is currently underway. Other cruise activities included installation of a temperature logger network, sample collection for stable isotope analyses to examine trophic structure, and drop camera surveys to ground-truth habitat maps and overhead imagery. (PDF contains 58 pages)

Comparative Microbial Dynamics in Crassostrea virginica and Crassostrea ariakensis

Considerations to introduce the Suminoe or Asian oyster Crassostrea ariakensis along the East Coast have raised many questions regarding ecology, economics, and human health. To date, research has focused primarily on the ecological and socioeconomic implications of this initiative, yet few studies have assessed its potential impact on public health. Our work compares the rates of bioaccumulation, depuration and post harvest decay of indicator organisms (such as E. coli) and Vibrio sp. between Crassostrea virginica and Crassostrea ariakensis in the laboratory. Preliminary results suggest that the rates of bioaccumulation of E. coli in Crassostrea ariakensis were significantly lower than those for Crassostrea virginica, depuration of E. coli was variable between the two species, and Crassostrea ariakensis post harvest decay rates of Vibrio sp. were significantly lower than Crassostrea virginica. This research provides coastal managers with insight into the response of Crassostrea ariakensis to bacteria, an important consideration for determining appropriate management strategies for this species. Further field-based studies will be necessary to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for the differences in rates of bioaccumulation and depuration. (PDF contains 40 pages)

Establishing National Ocean Service Priorities for Estuarine, Coastal, and Ocean Modeling: Capabilities, Gaps, and Preliminary Prioritization Factors

This report was developed to help establish National Ocean Service priorities and chart new directions for research and development of models for estuarine, coastal and ocean ecosystems based on user-driven requirements and supportive of sound coastal management, stewardship, and an ecosystem approach to management. (PDF contains 63 pages)

Preliminary guide to the identification of the early life history stages of Priacanthid fishes of the Western Central Atlantic

The family Priacanthidae contains four genera and four species that occur in the western central North Atlantic (Starnes, 1988). Pristigenys alta is distributed in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and along the east coast of North America. Although juveniles have been reported from as far north as southern New England waters, adults are not reported north of Cape Hatteras, NC. Priacanthus arenatus is distributed in tropical and tropically influenced areas of the western central North Atlantic in insular and continental shelf waters. Adult P. arenatus are distributed north to North Carolina and Bermuda, juveniles have been collected as far north as Nova Scotia. Cookeolus japonicus and Heteropriacanthus cruentatus are circumglobally distributed species and are both common in insular habitats. In the western central North Atlantic, C. japonicus ranges from New Jersey to Argentina; H. cruentatus from New Jersey and northern Gulf of Mexico to southern Brazil (Starnes, 1988). (PDF contains 6 pages)

Preliminary guide to the identification of the early life history stages of Gerreid fishes of the Western Central Atlantic

The family Gerreidae contains four genera and 13 species that occur in the western central North Atlantic. Adult gerreids are small to medium size fishes that are abundant in coastal waters, bays, and estuaries in tropical and warm temperate regions and sometimes occur in freshwaters. They are generally associate~ with grassy or open bottoms, but not with reefs. Gerreids are silvery fishes, with deeply forked tails, and extremely protrusible mouth that points downward when protracted. They apparently feed on bottom-dwelling organisms and at least one species (Eucinostomus gula) shows a distinct transition, during the juvenile period, from a planktivore (exclusively copepods) to a carnivore that includes a diet of almost solely polychaetes (Carr & Adams, 1973; Robins and Ray, 1987; Murdy et al., 1997). (PDF contains 10 pages)

Preliminary guide to the indentification of the early life history stages of Callionymid fishes of the Western Central Atlantic

Callionymidae, along with the Draconettidae and Gobiesocidae, previously were placed in the order Gobiesociformes (Allen, 1984). Recently, Nelson (1994) placed the Callionymidae and Draconettidae in the percifonn suborder Callionymoidei. The family is represented by three species in the western central North Atlantic Ocean, Diplogrammus pauciradiatus, Paradiplogrammus bairdi and Foetorepus agassizi (Davis, 1966; Robins and Ray, 1986). A detailed review ofthe family including early life history infonnation is given by Houde (1984) and Watson (1996). (PDF contains 11 pages)

Effects of underwater explosions on oysters, crabs and fish: a preliminary report.

Investigation on the effects of explosive shock on marine life. Necessary that the "commercial" effects, the actual damage to commercially important stocks of fish and shellfish, be evaluated. Equally important are the "biological" effects, the immediate physical effects of shock waves on animals and the indirect effects on future stocks. Indirect effects might include the diversion of migratory stocks from an area, or actual damage to the habitat, rendering it unfit for sedentary or non-migratory native species. Interruption of the food chains in an area by destruction of forge forms or vegetation. (PDF contains 43 pages)

Preliminary comparison of natural versus model-predicted recovery of vessel-generated seagrass injuries in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

Each year, more than 500 motorized vessel groundings cause widespread damage to seagrasses in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS). Under Section 312 of the National Marine Sanctuaries Act (NMSA), any party responsible for the loss, injury, or destruction of any Sanctuary resource, including seagrass, is liable to the United States for response costs and resulting damages. As part of the damage assessment process, a cellular automata model is utilized to forecast seagrass recovery rates. Field validation of these forecasts was accomplished by comparing model-predicted percent recovery to that which was observed to be occurring naturally for 30 documented vessel grounding sites. Model recovery forecasts for both Thalassia testudinum and Syringodium filiforme exceeded natural recovery estimates for 93.1% and 89.5% of the sites, respectively. For Halodule wrightii, the number of over- and under-predictions by the model was similar. However, where under-estimation occurred, it was often severe, reflecting the well-known extraordinary growth potential of this opportunistic species. These preliminary findings indicate that the recovery model is consistently generous to Responsible Parties in that the model forecasts a much faster recovery than was observed to occur naturally, particularly for T. testudinum, the dominant seagrass species in the region and the species most often affected. Environmental setting (i.e., location, wave exposure) influences local seagrass landscape pattern and may also play a role in the recovery dynamics for a particular injury site. An examination of the relationship between selected environmental factors and injury recovery dynamics is currently underway. (PDF file contains 20 pages.)

Preliminary investigation on growth responses of Cyprinus carpio L. fed on locally formulated artificial diets

The growth rate and feed conversion ratios of the common carp, Cyprinus carpio were measured for five test diets in 14-day replicate laboratory studies. The young carp were fed with artificial test diets with crude protein contents ranging from 14.50 to 21.42 per cent. Within this range of feed characteristic optimum growth rates were obtained with diets containing 20.25 and 21.42 per cent crude protein. The study of the effect of varying ration levels showed that growth rates increased with increases of ration size, but the food conversion efficiency and protein efficiency ratios decreased markedly as ration size was increased

Preliminary studies of the dual role of cotton-seed cake as fish feed and fish pond fertilizer in aquaculture

Many locally available fish feeds have been tried in fish culture. These include guinea corn, soya bean, groundnut cake and rice bran. Cotton seed cake has been successfully used as a fishpond organic fertilizer at Ado-Ekiti Government fish farm. Three fishponds stocked respectively with common carps, Heterotis, Tilapia spp., Clarias lazera and Heterobranchus were fed with cotton seed cake. Carps, Tilapia and Heterotis increased rapidly in weight and length while the catifishes did not grow