Proximate composition of five species of flat fishes

Five species of flat fishes, namely Cynoglossus semifaciatus, C. lida, C. bilineatus, C. macrolepidotus and Psettodes erumei caught in trawlers off Mangalore were analysed for proximate composition of different body parts. These data are discussed in terms of their variability and applications. In whole body of C. lida and C. semifaciatus mean values for moisture, protein, fat and ash content on dry basis respectively were 75.9%, 75.3%, 7.1%, 16.1% and 78.9%, 75.6%. 7.9% and 16.6%. Mean values of these constituents of edible parts in the same order for C. semifaciatus and Psettodes erumei were 77.3%, 80.7%, 7.8%, 10.8% and 77.4%, 86.2%, 3.5% and 11.1% respectively.

Composition and evolution of the V2r vorneronasal receptor gene repertoire in mice and rats

Pheromones are chemicals produced and detected by conspecifics to elicit social/sexual physiological and behavioral responses, and they are perceived primarily by the vomeronasal organ (VNO) in terrestrial vertebrates. Two large superfamilies of G protein-coupled receptors, V1rs and V2rs, have been identified as pheromone receptors in vomeronasal sensory neurons. Based on a computational analysis of the mouse and rat genome sequences, we report the first global draft of the V2r gene repertoire, composed of similar to 200 genes and pseudogenes. Rodent V2rs are subject to rapid gene births/deaths and accelerated amino acid substitutions, likely reflecting the species-specific nature of pheromones. Vertebrate V2rs appear to have originated twice prior to the emergence of the VNO in ancestral tetrapods, explaining seemingly inconsistent observations among different V2rs. The identification of the entire V2r repertoire opens the door to genomic-level studies of the structure, function, and evolution of this diverse group of sensory receptors. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Angular dependence of domain wall resistivity in artificial magnetic domain structures.

We exploit the ability to precisely control the magnetic domain structure of perpendicularly magnetized Pt/Co/Pt trilayers to fabricate artificial domain wall arrays and study their transport properties. The scaling behavior of this model system confirms the intrinsic domain wall origin of the magnetoresistance, and systematic studies using domains patterned at various angles to the current flow are excellently described by an angular-dependent resistivity tensor containing perpendicular and parallel domain wall resistivities. We find that the latter are fully consistent with Levy-Zhang theory, which allows us to estimate the ratio of minority to majority spin carrier resistivities, rho downward arrow/rho upward arrow approximately 5.5, in good agreement with thin film band structure calculations.

Impact of species composition and artificial feed on the growth of carps

Two trials conducted to demonstrate the suitability of composite carp culture in a small, seasonal, shallow village pond with varied species composition and stocking density indicated the possibility of obtaining higher production with reduced number of species. During the first trial, the Indian major carps, silver carp, common carp and fringe lipped carp were stocked at a density of 5625 fingerlings/ha in the pond in which the maximum water spread area was 1600m². The fish grown over a period of seven months yielded a production of only 242 kg. However, during the second trial, an increase in production by 60.33% was achieved over the same period in the same pond by stocking only the Indian major carps and common carp at a density of 4687.5 fingerlings/ha and feeding them daily with silkworm faecal matter based artificial feed at about 5% of their body weight. The results indicated that for seasonal, shallow ponds stocking of only three species of carps, namely, catla, rohu and common carp would suffice to get optimum yield.

Relationship between diet composition and growth rate of the zoeal and mysis stages of Penaeus japonicus Bate

Diets containing Chaetoceros gracilis plus Artemia nauplii artificially prepared diet, Diet-B, and two commercial feeds Tapes and mysid meals, were fed to larvae of P. japonicus. Highest survival rate was obtained when larvae were fed with Diet-B. The results show that the early larval stages of P. japonicus can be reared on artificially prepared diets. Since the chemical composition of the diet is known, it can be used as supplemental data for larval feeding development and nutritional requirement studies for the early larval stages of Penaeus japonicus and/or other penaeids. Information is tabulated on feeds and feeding rates used, composition of the artificial diet, fatty acid composition of lipids of the different diets, and of the sterols of the different diets.

Catch composition of penaeid prawns caught with fish corrals at Batan Bay, Philippines

The study was undertaken to ascertain the commercially important species of penaeid prawns caught in Batan Bay, Philippines and their abundance in fish corrals. A total of 12 species were commercially caught: Penaeus monodon, P. semisulcatus, P. merguiensis, P. indicus, P. latisulcatus, P. japonicus, P. canaliculatus, Metapenaeus ensis, M. endeavouri, M. dalli, M. elegans, and Trachypenaeus fulvus.

Percentage composition of Brachyuran larvae collected during 1994 in Manora Channel, Karachi, Pakistan

Brachyuran larvae are the most common zooplankton component of the Manora Channel, Karachi, Pakistan. The identification of these larvae would assist in the assessment of brachyuran species and provide information on percentage composition, occurrence, abundance and breeding habits of the brachyuran species in the Manora Channel area. However plankton caught larvae is not easily identified. An accurate identification of such material is only possible by the comparison with larvae reared under laboratory conditions and documented with illustrations. The identifications for this present study were based on the works of Gurney (1938); Atkins (1954); Chhapgar (1955); Raja Bai (1960); Hashmi (1969, 1970a, b); Baba and Miyata (1971); Kakati and Sankolli (1975); Rice (1975); Kakati (1977); Lim and Tan (1981); Yatsuzuka and Sakai (1984); Fielder, et al (1984); Amir (1989, M. Phil thesis unpublished); Ingle (1992); Siddiqui and Tirmizi (1992); Tirmizi et al (1993); Bano (1999, M. Phil thesis unpublished); Ghory and Siddiqui (2001); Ghory (2002, M. Phil thesis unpublished); Ghory and Siddiqui (2002).

Abundance and composition of benthic fauna in Penaeus monodon Fabricius culture pond on the west coast of Malaysia peninsular

This paper reports a study on the benthic faunal abundance and diversity of tiger shrimp P. monodon culture ponds in Perak, west coast of Malaysia Peninsular. Sampling was carried out at three weeks interval throughout the 116 days culture period. In addition, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, transparency, pH and organic matter of soil were also measured. Results showed that the major groups of macro-benthos comprised of gastropod, foraminifera, polychaetes, bivalve and insects; whereas the meio-benthos comprised of harpacticoid copepods, ostracods, nematodes, gastropods, foraminifera, bivalve, insects, crustacean nauplii and polychaetes. In macro-benthos, the abundance of different sizes of Gastropods increased throughout the culture duration. This consisted of 37-98.20% for <1cm length, 1.80-61.50% for 1-2cm length and 1.18—1.30% for >2cm length. Other macro and meio-benthic organisms decreased linearly with the culture period. The depletion symptom indicates that the culture species may have intensively preyed upon the consumable (<0.5cm in size) benthic fauna together with detritus and artificial diet; or could have been caused by pond bottom deterioration via uneaten feed, faces and toxic gases.

Fatty acid composition of some brown seaweeds (Phaeophyta) from the coast of Karachi

Ten species of filamentous and multicellular thalloid algae (Phaeophyta) belonging to six genera of the class Dictyophyceae were collected from different seawater habitats of Karachi, Pakistan at the northern boundary of the Arabian Sea during September 1997 and July 1998. They were extracted in chloroform: methanol, saponified, subjected to column chromatography (CC, TLC), esterified and analysed for fatty acid (FA) composition initially by gas-liquid-chromatography (GLC) and finally by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Algae of the classes Laminariophyceae and Fucophyceae (Phaeophyta) displayed only a few SCFAs, PUFAs and substituted FAs, no VLCFA, C22 UFA, CFA, DCFA and monoynoic FA, large amount of C16:0, very large quantity of C18:1, very small RCCL and FA-diversity, C18 UFAs up to four DBs, C20 UFAs up to three DBs only. They were characterized by the largest amount of C18:1, lowest degree of unsaturation of C20 UFAs, lack of C22 UFAs, the shortest RCCL and the smallest FA-diversity as compared to other phyla.

EEG activities in the orbitofrontal cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during the development of morphine dependence, tolerance and withdrawal in rhesus monkeys

Investigating the activities of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in the process of addiction is valuable for understanding the neural mechanism underlying the impairments of the PFC after drug abuse. However, limited data are obtained from primate animals and few studies analyze Electroencephalogram (EEG) in the gamma band, which plays an important role in cognitive functions. In addition, it is yet unclear whether drug abuse affects the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) - the two most important subregions of the PFC - in similar ways or not. The aim of this study is to address these issues. We recorded EEG in the OFC and DLPFC in three rhesus monkeys. All animals received a course of saline (NaCl 0.9%, 2 ml) injection (5 days) followed by 10 days of morphine injection (every 12 h), and then a further series of saline injection (7 days). A main finding in the present study was that morphine decreased EEG power in all frequency bands in a short period after injection in both the OFC and DLPFC in monkeys. And gamma power decreased not just in short period after morphine injection but lasted to 12 h after injection. Moreover, we found that although the changes in EEG activities in the OFC and DLPFC at 30-35 min after injection were similar, the DLPFC was more sensitive to the effect of morphine than the OFC. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The dynamics of hippocampal sensory gating during the development of morphine dependence and withdrawal in rats

The effects of morphine on hippocampal sensory gating (N40) during the development of morphine dependence and withdrawal were investigated in the double click auditory evoked potential (EP) suppression paradigm. Rats were made dependent upon morphine hydrochloride by a series of injections (every 12h) over 6 days, followed by withdrawal after stopping morphine administration. Hippocampal gating was examined during the development of dependence and withdrawal. Moreover, the DA antagonist haloperidol was used to assess the contribution of dopamine to hippocampal gating induced by morphine. Our results showed that the morphine-treated rats exhibited significantly disrupted hippocampal gating during the development of morphine dependence and this disrupted gating was partially reversed by haloperidol pretreatment. In contrast, there was significantly enhanced hippocampal gating at the fifth and sixth days of withdrawal. The dynamics of hippocampal gating during the development of morphine dependence and withdrawal suggests the interaction between the hippocampus and opioids. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fatty acid composition of more brown seaweeds (Phaeophyta) from the coast of Karachi

Six species of multicellular, thalloid, brown algae, belonging to five genera of the classes Laminariophyceae and Fucophyceae were collected from the coastal areas of Buleji near Karachi (Pakistan) during October 1997 and February 1998. They were extracted in chloroform: methanol, saponified, subjected to column chromatography (CC, TLC), esterified and analysed for fatty acid (FA) composition initially by gas-liquid-chromatography (GLC) and finally by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). They displayed only a few SCFAs, PUFAs and substituted FAs, no VLCFA, C22 UFA, CFA, DCFA and monoynoic FA, large amount of CI6:0, very large quantity of C18:1, very small RCCL and FA-diversity, C18 UFAs up to four DBs, C20 UFAs up to three DBs only. They were characterized by the largest amount of C18:1, lowest degree of unsaturation of C20 UFAs, lack of C22 UFAs, the shortest RCCL and the smallest FA-diversity as compared to other phyla.