Predictive Factors of the Fatality of Motor Vehicle Passengers Involved in Far-Side Lateral Collisions: A National Crash Database Study.

Although the risks faced by passengers in near-side lateral collisions are understood, and despite the presence of side airbags for injury prevention, passengers involved in far-side lateral collisions also suffer serious and fatal injuries. The objective of this study was to determine the independent predictive factors of fatality of motor vehicle passengers involved in far-side lateral collisions. Using 2010 records from the National Automotive Sampling System/Crashworthiness Data System (NASS/CDS), we selected 86 fatal and 325 non-fatal passengers with an Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) score of 2 or more.

Description of two new species of sandlances, genus Bleekeria (Perciformes, Ammodytidae) from the Andaman Sea (northeastern Indian Ocean).

Two new species of Bleekeria Günther, 1862 are described from specimens collected in the Andaman Sea off the coast of Myanmar during bottom surveys conducted by the R/V Dr Fridtjof Nansen in 2015 and 2018. They are distinguished from each other and from congeners by a combination of morphological and meristic characters as well as fin coloration and genetic variance. Bleekeria albicauda sp.

Discovery of a colossal slickhead (Alepocephaliformes: Alepocephalidae): an active-swimming top predator in the deep waters of Suruga Bay, Japan.

A novel species of the family Alepocephalidae (slickheads), Narcetes shonanmaruae, is described based on four specimens collected at depths greater than 2171 m in Suruga Bay, Japan. Compared to other alepocephalids, this species is colossal (reaching ca. 140 cm in total length and 25 kg in body weight) and possesses a unique combination of morphological characters comprising anal fin entirely behind the dorsal fin, multiserial teeth on jaws, more scale rows than congeners, precaudal vertebrae less than 30, seven branchiostegal rays, two epurals, and head smaller than those of relatives.

Temporal and Spatial Site Sharing during Spawning in Snappers and (Pisces: Perciformes: Lutjanidae) in Waters around Peleliu Island, Palau.

Two species of Lutjanidae, and , form spawning aggregation, a large school specifically formed for reproduction. Although they share the same spawning site at the southernmost reef in Peleliu Island, Palau, timing of spawning and their behaviors in the spawning and resting sites differ. Although the spawning behaviors have reported previously, long term and integrated observations documenting the size of the aggregation, exact spawning duration and timing, detailed behavioral profiles, as well as oceanic conditions upon spawning have never been reported.

A 'living fossil' eel (Anguilliformes: Protanguillidae, fam. nov.) from an undersea cave in Palau.

We report the discovery of an enigmatic, small eel-like fish from a 35 m-deep fringing-reef cave in the western Pacific Ocean Republic of Palau that exhibits an unusual suite of morphological characters. Many of these uniquely characterize the Recent members of the 19 families comprising the elopomorph order Anguilliformes, the true eels. Others are found among anguilliforms only in the Cretaceous fossils, and still others are primitive with respect to both Recent and fossil eels.

Nonsynonymous site heteroplasmy in fish mitochondrial DNA.

Heteroplasmic nucleotide polymorphisms are rarely observed in wild animal mitochondrial DNA. The occurrence of such site heteroplasmy is expected to be extremely rare at nonsynonymous sites where the number of nucleotide substitutions per site is low due to functional constraints. This report deals with nonsynonymous mitochondrial heteroplasmy from two wild fish species, chum salmon and Japanese flounder.

Molecular cloning of proopiomelanocortin cDNA in the ratfish, a holocephalan.

Proopiomelanocortin (POMC) is a precursor for several pituitary hormones including adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) and endorphin (END). Fish POMCs in four taxonomic classes, Cephalaspidomorphi (lampreys), Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish), Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish), and Actinopterygii (ray-finned fish) have been identified. However, two essential species, ratfish in Chondrichthyes and hagfish in Agnatha, are still missing in the evolutionary image of this molecule.