Ocean current variability and the spawning season of Hawaiian reef fishes

Synopsis The spawning patterns of four Hawaiian reef fishes with similar reproductive habits, but different biogeographic distributions were studied from September 1980 to October 1981. Two species are Hawaiian endemics [Centropyge potteri (Pomacanthidae) and Chaetodon multicinctus (Chaetodontidae)] and the other two have pan-tropical Pacific distributions [Ctenochaetus strigosus and Zebrasoma flavescens (Acanthuridae)]. All showed increased spawning activity from January to July, the prevalent pattern among a majority of coastal marine fishes in Hawaii. Environmental correlatives to the period of peak reproduction include cycles of (a) daylight length and temperature which probably function as proximate cues and (b) seasonal variations in ocean current patterns which may ultimately affect survival of larvae and dispersal. Peak reproduction takes place during months when (1) mesoscale eddies most likely occur, and (2) the probability is greatest of drifting objects remaining near the islands.     

Modularity of osteoclast behaviour and “mode-specific” inhibition of osteoclast function

This study is part of an attempt to understand the role of specific cellular activities in the bone resorptive process. Experiments were performed whereby known pharmacological agents were used to inhibit individual modes of osteoclastic activity, such as motility and secretion. The effects of such treatments on bone resorption were assessed by quantitative scanning electron microscopy. The compounds included colchicine, which was used to inhibit osteoclast motility; molybdate ions which were used to selectively inhibit the catalytic activity of secreted acid phosphatase, and omeprazole which was employed to inhibit the secretion of hydrogen ions. All compounds inhibited osteoclastic bone resorption, but singularly affected defined modes of activity. These findings suggest that each mode of osteoclastic activity is essential for the bone resorptive process, and that mode-specific inhibition may provide a means whereby excessive activity of the osteoclast can be regulated in disease.     

SUBOPTIMAL VIRULENCE OF AN INSECT-PARASITIC NEMATODE

Recent considerations of parasite virulence have focused on the adverse effects that parasites can have on the survival of their hosts. Many parasites, however, reduce host fitness by an equally deleterious but different means, by causing partial or complete sterility of their hosts. A model of optimal parasite virulence is developed in which a quantity of host resources can be allocated to either host or parasite reproduction. Increases in parasite reproduction thus cause reductions in host fertility. The model shows that under a wide variety of ecological conditions, such parasites should completely sterilize their hosts. Only when opportunities for horizontal transmission are very limited should the parasites appropriate less than all of a host's reproductive resources. Field and laboratory evidence shows that the nematode parasite Howardula aoronymphium is relatively avirulent to one of its principal host species, Drosophila falleni, whereas it is much more virulent to D. putrida and D. neotestacea, suggesting that there may be substantial vertical transmission in D. falleni. However, epidemiological studies in the field and laboratory assays of host specificity strongly suggest that the three host species share a single parasite pool in natural populations, indicating that parasites in all three host species experience high levels of horizontal transmission. Thus, the low virulence of H. aoronymphium to D. falleni is not consistent with the model of optimal parasite virulence. It is proposed that this suboptimal virulence in D. falleni is a consequence of populations of H. aoronymphium being selected to exploit simultaneously several different host species. As a result, virulence may not be optimal in any one host. One must, therefore, consider the full range of host species in assessing a parasite's virulence.     

EVOLUTIONARY LOSS OF LARVAL FEEDING: DEVELOPMENT,FORM AND FUNCTION IN A FACULTATIVELY FEEDING LARVA,BRISASTER LATIFRONS

Species with large eggs and nonfeeding larvae have evolved many times from ancestors with smaller eggs and feeding larvae in numerous groups of aquatic invertebrates and amphibians. This change in reproductive allocation and larval form is often accompanied by dramatic changes in development. Little is known of this transformation because the intermediate form (a facultatively feeding larva) is rare. Knowledge of facultatively feeding larvae may help explain the conditions under which nonfeeding larvae evolve. Two hypotheses concerning the evolutionary loss of larval feeding are as follows: (1) large eggs evolve before modifications in larval development, and (2) the intermediate form (facultatively feeding larva) is evolutionarily short-lived. I show that larvae of a heart urchin, Brisaster latifrons, are capable of feeding but do not require food to complete larval development. Food for larvae appears to have little effect on larval growth and development. The development, form, and suspension feeding mechanism of these larvae are similar to those of obligate-feeding larvae of other echinoids. Feeding rates of Brisaster larvae are similar to cooccurring, obligate-feeding echinoid larvae but are low relative to the large size of Brisaster larvae. The comparison shows that in Brisaster large egg size, independence from larval food, and relatively low feeding rate have evolved before the heterochronies and modified developmental mechanisms common in nonfeeding echinoid larvae. If it is general, the result suggests that hypotheses concerning the origin of nonfeeding larval development should be based on ecological factors that affect natural selection for large eggs, rather than on the evolution of heterochronies and developmental novelties in particular clades. I also discuss alternative hypotheses concerning the evolutionary persistence of facultative larval feeding as a reproductive strategy. These hypotheses could be tested against a phylogenetic hypothesis.     

Comparative biochemical studies of carotenoids in sea urchins—III. Relationship between developmental mode and carotenoids in the Australian echinoids Heliocidaris erythrogramma and H. tuberculata and a comparison with Japanese species

The sea urchin Heliocidaris tuberculata is typical of most echinoids in having a small egg and a feeding larva, while H. erythrogramma has a large egg and modified development through a non-feeding larvae. The carotenoids in the gonads of these two species were investigated from the comparative biochemical points of view. The carotenoid content of the buoyant eggs of H. erythrogramma was approximately 60 times that of the negatively-buoyant eggs of H. tuberculata. With respect to cytoplasmic volume, however, the carotenoid concentration in the eggs of H. tuberculata was approximately twice that in the eggs of H. erythrogramma. In both species β-echinenone was the principal carotenoid found and their carotenoid patterns were similar. It is very interesting from a functional point of view that carotenoid levels per cytoplasmic volume are conserved across most of the species we have examined irrespective of phylogeny and egg size. In light of this result we suggest that carotenoids may play an important role in developing stage in all echinoids including indirect and direct developers.     

Dry-season spawning in a cyprinid fish of southern India

Synopsis A population of the S. Indian cyprinid fishBarbus melanampyx was sampled monthly through 24 months. Seasonal cycles of the gonado-somatic index (GSI), ovarian stages, male breeding tubercles, spawning behaviour and population structure were assessed. These fish breed strictly seasonally during the main dry period: December/January through April. Comparison with other Barbus species of the same general region led to the conclusion that the patterns of reproductive investment ofB. melanampyx are similar to those of perennial species, and different from those of wet-season spawners. The reasons for this rather unexpected result were found in the more constant conditions prevailing during a dry season as compared to the monsoon. It was argued thatB. melanampyx and the species spawning perennially are in effect small-brood spawners, rather than partial spawners.     

Collective motions in proteins investigated by X-ray diffuse scattering

We have developed theoretical models for analysis of X-ray diffuse scattering from protein crystals. A series of models are proposed to be used for experimental data with different degrees of precision. First, we propose the normal mode model, where conformational dynamics of a protein is assumed to occur mostly in a limited conformational subspace spanned by a small number of low-frequency normal modes in the protein. When high precision data are available, variances and covariances of the normal mode variables can be determined from experimental data using this model. For experimental data with lower degrees of precision, we introduce a series of simpler models. These models express the covariance matrix using relatively simple empirical correlation functions by assuming the correlation between a pair of atoms to be isotropic. As an application of these simpler models, we calculate diffuse-scattering patterns from a human lysozyme crystal to examine how each adjustable parameter in the models affects general features of the resulting patterns. The results of the calculation are summarized as follows. (1) The higher order scattering makes a significant contribution at high resolutions. (2) The resulting simulated patterns are sensitive to changes in correlation lengths of about 1 Å, as well as to changes of the functional form of the correlation function. (3) But only the “average” value of the intra- and intermolecular correlation lengths seems to determine the gross features of the pattern. (4) The effect of the atom-dependent amplitude of fluctuations is difficult to observe. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A New Histochemical Double-Stain Method Using Three-Dimensional Analysis with Confocal laser Scanning Microscopy

We describe a new technique for immunohistochemical and enzyme-histochemi-cal double staining using confocal laser scanning microscopy in the reflection mode. As an example, we investigated the immunoreactivity for Spot 35-calbindin-D_28K, a vitamin D-dependent calcium binding protein, and the enzyme activity for ma⁺-ATPase in the rat kidney. The lead precipitation method for Ca²⁺-ATPase was initially used to process kidney slices. Each specimen was then dehydrated and embedded in a water soluble resin. Thin sections were cut from the resin block, and an indirect immunocolloidal gold method with silver enhancement for Spot 35-calbindin-D_28K antigen was carried out on the glass slides. Results were then observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy in the reflection mode. The three-dimensional distribution of the reaction products was detected by serial optic slice images. Lead phosphate particles, which represented the location of Ca²⁺-ATPase, were distributed deep in the section. The most intense signals from the silver partkles were detected from the surface slice of the section. A stereoscopic image generated from the serial optic slices clearly showed the differences in their distribution.     

Reproductive biology and larval morphology of the marine plotosid Cnidoglanis macrocephalus (Teleostei) in a seasonally closed Australian estuary

Monthly trends shown by gonadosomatic indices, the prevalence of the different gonadal stages, and the size distribution of the oocytes, indicate that the large marine and commercially important plotosid Cnidoglanis macrocephalus spawns in Wilson Inlet between October and January. The conclusion that spawning occurs within this seasonally closed estuary was confirmed by the presence of males in large nests and by the capture of newly-hatched, yolk sac larvae from one of those nests. The fact that C. macrocephalus, which is also widely distributed in coastal marine waters throughout much of southern Australia, can spawn within Wilson Inlet would be of particular value to this species in those periods when closure of the estuary would preclude a seawards spawning migration. Sexual maturity is size dependent, with spawning rarely occurring before fish have reached a total length of 425 mm. Sexual maturity was attained by a few fish at the end of their second year, by several at the end of their third year and by most, if not all fish, at the end of their fourth year. Comparisons with data for the more northern and permanently open Swan Estuary indicate that C. macrocephalus also spawns within that system and that the spawning time of this species is related to water temperature. The adult male guards the larvae under its pelvic fins in burrows. The larvae increased in total length from 29 mm just after hatching to 43 mm in the 17–18 days after capture, during which time their yolk sac was resorbed. Details are given of the morphology, morphometrics, meristics and pigmentation of larval C. macrocephalus. In comparison with the larvae of three other plotosid genera, the larva of C. macrocephalus is far larger in size and more developed at hatching and takes a shorter time to transform into a juvenile.     

催产时鳝卵磷酸酶活性的变化及其与排卵的关系

本实验采用Gomori组织化学法和磷酸苯二钠法,分别检测黄鳝卵ALP、ACP的细胞定位和活性变化。结果表明,催产后72h,ALP活性显著高于临近注射时(Oh),催产后48h和96h(p<0.05);临产前(催产后96h),ACP活性极显著高于试验组其它各时程(p<0.01)。提示ALP和ACP活性增强与卵母细胞成熟、排放有直接关系。本研究为探索排卵机制提供资料。