Mesozooplankton size structure in the Canary Current System.

Changes in plankton composition influences the dynamics of marine food webs and carbon sinking rates. Understanding the core structure and function of the plankton distribution is of paramount importance to know their role in trophic transfer and efficiency. Here, we studied the zooplankton distribution, abundance, composition, and size spectra for the characterization of the community under different oceanographic conditions in the Canaries-African Transition Zone (C-ATZ).

Energetic Implications of Morphological Changes between Fish Larval and Juvenile Stages Using Geometric Morphometrics of Body Shape.

The fish body shape is a key factor that influences multiple traits such as swimming, foraging, mating, migrations, and predator avoidance. The present study describes the body morphological changes and the growth trajectories during the transformation from 24 to 54 days post-hatching in the golden grey mullet, , using geometric morphometric analysis (GMA). The results revealed a decrease in morphological variability (i.

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection in sturgeon species: A promising reproductive technology of selected genitors.

Sturgeons are the most endangered species group and their wild populations continue to decrease. In this study, we apply intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), an assisted reproductive technology, for the first time in endangered and critically endangered sturgeons. Using various egg-sperm species combinations we performed different ICSI experiments with immobilized pre- or non-activated spermatozoa, single or many, fresh or cryopreserved.

Stranding of Mesopelagic Fishes in the Canary Islands.

Most mesopelagic fishes perform large diel vertical migrations from the deep-sea zone to the surface. Although there is a trade-off between a higher food availability at the upper layers and an energy cost and predation risk, incursion towards the surface also implies a transport by currents, where the fish are exposed to a stranding risk on the coast. Here, we reported the first documented stranding of mesopelagic fishes along the southeast shore of Gran Canaria Island.

First zoeal stage of Plesionika crosnieri Chan Yu, 1991, P. ortmanni Doflein, 1902, and P. semilaevis Bate, 1888, with remarks on the early larvae of Plesionika Bate, 1888 (Crustacea, Decapoda).

The morphology of first stage zoea larvae of three pandalid shrimps Plesionika crosnieri Chan Yu, 1991, P. ortmanni Doflein, 1902, and P. semilaevis Bate, 1888 are described for the first time from larvae obtained in laboratory culture.