Characterization of the primary sonic muscles in Carapus acus (Carapidae): a multidisciplinary approach.

Sound production in carapid fishes results from the action of extrinsic muscles that insert into the swim bladder. Biochemical, histochemical and morphological techniques were used to examine the sonic muscles and compare them with epaxial muscles in Carapus acus. Sonic fibres are thicker than red and thinner than white epaxial fibres, and sonic fibres and myofibrils exhibit an unusual helicoidal organization: the myofibrils of the centre are in a straight line whereas they are more and more twisted towards the periphery.

Expression of myofibrillar proteins and parvalbumin isoforms during the development of a flatfish, the common sole Solea solea: comparison with the turbot Scophthalmus maximus.

Developmental changes in myofibrillar protein and parvalbumin isoform composition were investigated in the myotomal muscle of the flatfish Solea solea, characterized by a very brief metamorphic stage. Results were compared with previously obtained data on another pleuronectiform teleost, the turbot (Scophthalmus maximus), displaying prolonged metamorphosis. Electrophoretically measurable changes in myofibrillar proteins and parvalbumins were detected late in the sole, after completion of metamorphosis.

Atherina punctata and Atherina lagunae (Pisces, Atherinidae), new species in the Mediterranean Sea. 1. Biometric investigations of three Atherinid species.

Discriminative canonical analysis of 87 biometric parameters in the marine and lagoon atherinids of 'Atherina boyeri' complex from the Mediterranean Sea helps defining three distinct atherinid groups: marine punctuated, marine unpunctuated and lagoon atherinids. Each atherinid group constitutes a clearly independent original entity. Besides, each one is a more or less heterogeneous group with geographical disparities, characterising specimen collected from France and Tunisia.

Immunological study of muscle parvalbumin isotypes in three African catfish during development.

Eleven parvalbumin isotypes expressed during the development of clariids Heterobranchus longifilis and Clarias gariepinus and claroteid Chrysichthys auratus were purified and electrophoresed on sodium-dodecyl-sulfate polyacrylamide gels. Immunochemical cross-reactions among these proteins were investigated by immunoblotting, using purified antibodies raised against three isotypes chosen at different stages of fish development. Antibodies raised against H.

Isoform distribution of parvalbumins and of some myofibrillar proteins in adult and developing Chrysichthys auratus (Geoffroy St. Hilaire, 1808) (Pisces, Claroteidae).

Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was used to analyse the distribution of parvalbumin, myosin light chain, and troponin I isoforms in white muscles of larval, juvenile, and adult Chrysichthys auratus (catfish, siluriforms) and to study the kinetics of their synthesis. Parvalbumin isoform PA II was first detected from day 5 post-hatching and was the main "larval" isoform in this species. PA III appeared at the beginning of the juvenile stage but always remained the minor isoform, even in adult fish.