Seasonal population dynamics of Lepeophtheirus spinifer and Neobenedenia sp. coinfecting snubnose pompano (Trachinotus blochii) breeders in marine cages in the Philippines.

Studies on the biology and ecology of sea lice are lacking in tropical regions such as in Southeast Asia where finfish cage farming has grown dramatically in the past decades. This study investigated the seasonal population dynamics of ectoparasites infecting captive snubnose pompano (Trachinotus blochii) breeders in marine cages in the Philippines. The pompano breeders were found to be naturally coinfected with caligid copepod Lepeophtheirus spinifer and capsalid monogenean Neobenedenia sp.

mRNA expression patterns for GH, PRL, SL, IGF-I and IGF-II during altered feeding status in rabbitfish, Siganus guttatus.

Feeding time is a major synchronizer of many physiological rhythms in many organisms. Alteration in the nutritional status, specifically fasting, also affects the secretion rhythms of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I). In this study, we investigated whether the expression patterns for the mRNAs of GH, prolactin (PRL) and somatolactin (SL) in the pituitary gland, and insulin-like growth factor I and II (IGF-I and IGF-II) in the liver of juvenile rabbitfish (Siganus guttatus) follow a rhythm according to feeding time and whether these hormone rhythms changes with starvation.

Changes in mRNA expression of grouper (Epinephelus coioides) growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor I in response to nutritional status.

Growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) are key links to nutritional condition and growth regulation in teleost. To understand the endocrine mechanism of growth regulation in grouper, we cloned the cDNAs for grouper GH and IGF-I and examined their mRNA expression during different nutritional status. Grouper GH cDNA is 936 base pairs (bp) long excluding the poly-A tail.