River-estuary continuum highlighted by variabilities in carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios of the catadromous eel Anguilla japonica.

Estuaries exhibit high physicochemical variability and the properties of estuaries and the constituent segments are not yet systematically understood. This study aims to reveal the spatial heterogeneity of predominant organic sources using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios (δC and δN, respectively) of Japanese eels (Anguilla japonica), one of the ideal natural samplers. In the Miyakoda River, Japan, our study site, the effectiveness of eel δC and δN values as standard indices of predominant organic sources was tested by employing the River Continuum Concept.

How Japanese eels escape from the stomach of a predatory fish.

Predation shapes diversity in the defensive tactics of prey. One specialized defensive tactic is to escape the digestive system of the predator after capture. While most of these defensive tactics involve passive ejection alive from predators' mouths and vents, active escape from the digestive tracts of predators has recently been observed in certain invertebrate species and fish.

Multi-layer core/shell microgels with internal complexity and their nanocomposites.

In this study, we show that core/shell (CS) microgels with multiple layers can be created a one-pot precipitation polymerization, in which monomers are added to the reaction flask multiple times once most of the previous monomer has been consumed. The complex internal structures of the microgels were examined using a combination of scattering and microscopy techniques.

Comparative analyses of nutritional strategies among the species within the genus Paragymnodinium (Gymnodiniales, Dinophyceae).

The genus Paragymnodinium exhibits various nutritional strategies despite the fact that each species has pigmented plastids. This provides an excellent opportunity to investigate the evolution of the mode of nutrition and the function of the plastids through comparative studies. In this study, we analyzed the growth, pigment composition, absorption spectra, variable chlorophyll a fluorescence, and photosynthetic carbon fixation capabilities of P.

Description of an Enigmatic Alveolate, Platyproteum noduliferae n. sp., and Reconstruction of its Flagellar Apparatus.

Platyproteum is an enigmatic, monotypic genus formerly assigned to the Apicomplexa, until a recent phylogenomic study demonstrated that it diverged from the base of the chromerid/colpodellid (chrompodellid) taxa and apicomplexan clade. In the present study, a new species, P. noduliferae n.