Diet composition of Emperor Penguin chicks Aptenodytes forsten' at two Mawson Coast colonies, Antarctica

The diet composition of Emperor Penguin Aptenodytes forsteri chicks was examined at Auster and Taylor Glacier colonies, near Australia's Mawson station, Antarctica, between hatching in mid-winter and fledging in mid-summer by "water-offloading" adults. Chicks at both colonies were fed a similar suite of prey species. Crustaceans occurred in 82% of stomach samples at Auster and 87% of stomachs at Taylor Glacier and were heavily digested: their contribution to food mass could not be quantified. Fish, primarily bentho-pelagic species, accounted for 52% by number and 55% by mass of chick diet at Auster, and squid formed the remainder. At Taylor Glacier the corresponding values were 27% by number and 31% by mass of fish and 73% by number and 69% by mass of squid. Of the 33 species or taxa identified, the fish Trematomus eulepidotus and the squid Psychroteuthis glacialis and Allu-roteuthis antarcticus accounted for 64% and 74% of the diets by mass at Auster and Taylor Glacier, respectively. The sizes of fish varied temporally but not in a linear manner from winter to summer. Adult penguins captured fish ranging in length from 60 mm ( Pfeura-gramma antarcticum ) to 250 mm ( T. eulepidotus ) and squid (P. glacialis ) from 19 to 280 mm in mantle length. The length-frequency distribution of P. glacialis showed seasonal variation, with the size of squid increasing from winter to summer. The energy density of chick diet mix increased significantly prior to "fledging".     

Phylogenetic aspects of tooth and jaw structure of the Medaka, Oryzias latipes, and other beloniform fishes

Tooth structure is described for adult male, female, and juvenile Oryzias latipes (Temminck & Schlegel), the Medaka. Adult males have enlarged, unicuspid teeth posteriorly on the premaxilla and dentary. Oral teeth are smaller and more numerous in females, in which no tooth is notably larger than the others. Juveniles have numerous small teeth from about 3 mm SL (standard length) onwards. By about 16 mm SL, males begin to develop the large posterior teeth, as well as other secondary sexual characters. Lower and upper pharyngeal teeth of both males and females are fine, and in numerous even rows.
The large, posterior oral teeth of males are fully-ankylosed to the attachment bone, and, hence, are not depressible. In female Medaka, as in the Halfbeak Dermogenys pusillus van Hasselt, the oral teeth have a ring of unmineralized collagen at the base, and are not depressible. Pharyngeal teeth of Medaka have a ring of unmineralized collagen at the base, and a distinct wedge of collagen absent posteriorly, such that the pharyngeal teeth may be depressed.
Bone in adult Medaka is acellular. Incompletely mineralized teeth, acellular bone, a protrus-ible upper oral jaw, and a mobile branchial apparatus with an interhyal bone, form a complex characteristic of advanced teleosts. The Medaka differs in several ways from the model advanced teleost: absence of an interhyal bone, ascending and articular processes of the premaxilla, and the rostral cartilage, as well as presence of cartilaginous symphyses between the dentaries and premaxillae, all contribute to the fixed or nonprotrusible jaws.
Reduction in the premaxilla is a derived character within beloniform fishes for which an enlarged, beaked outer jaw is considered plesiomorphic.     

A prospective study of delayed sleep phase syndrome in patients with severe resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder

There have been relatively few studies examining sleep in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and these have produced contradictory findings. A recent retrospective study identified a possible association between OCD and a circadian rhythm sleep disorder known as delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS). Patients with this pattern of sleeping go to bed and get up much later than normal. They are unable to shift their sleep to an earlier time and, as a result, suffer considerable disruption to social and occupational functioning. In this study, we examined the sleep of patients with OCD prospectively. We aimed to establish the frequency of DSPS in this population and any associated clinical or demographic factors which might be implicated in its aetiology.     

Possible impacts of environmental change on pelagic fish recruitment: modelling anchovy transport by advective processes in the southern Benguela

Climate change may influence pelagic fish by altering advective processes or by changing where fish choose to spawn. Using a simulation model, the effects of altered advection and spatial distribution of spawning by anchovy on recruitment off South Africa were explored. Cape anchovy Engraulis capensis spawn on the region of the Agulhas Bank, south of South Africa. Currents transport eggs and larvae to nursery areas. Transport of eggs and larvae was modelled using a flow field based on averaged Acoustic Doppler Current Profile data, Feasible Scenarious of altered advection were modelled. For modelling purposes, the ocean surrounding South Africa was divided into blocks with dimensions of a quarter-degree latitude by a quarter-degree longitude. Acoustically measured distributions of spawner biomass for the years 1986–92 were used to calculate egg production per block. In the model, batches were released from each of these blocks each day of the spawning season. The modelling study indicates that passive transport of young anchovy may account for a substantial proportion of year-class variability. Model results show that distribution of spawners influences the distribution of young of the year, as well as the number and the location of advective losses across offshore boundaries.