Measurement of the Growth of the Main Commercial Rays (, , , ) in European Waters Using Intercalibration Methods.

The intercalibration of age readings represents a crucial step in the ageing procedure; the use of different sampling methods, structures, preparation techniques, and ageing criteria can significantly affect age and growth data. This study evaluated the precision and accuracy of ageing for the most important North Atlantic (NA) and Mediterranean (M) ray species, , , , and , through exchange exercises carried out by readers from different laboratories. In addition, growth parameters were estimated from the obtained data.

Insights into planktonic food-web dynamics through the lens of size and season.

Knowledge of the trophic structure and variability of planktonic communities is a key factor in understanding food-web dynamics and energy transfer from zooplankton to higher trophic levels. In this study, we investigated how stable isotopes of mesozooplankton species varied seasonally (winter, spring, autumn) in relation to environmental factors and plankton size classes in a temperate coastal ecosystem. Our results showed that spring is characterized by the strongest vertical and size-structured plankton food-web, mainly fueled by the phytoplankton bloom.

Impact of temperature on Downs herring (Clupea harengus) embryonic stages: First insights from an experimental approach.

Among all human-induced pressures, ocean warming is expected to be one of the major drivers of change in marine ecosystems. Fish species are particularly vulnerable during embryogenesis. Here, the impact of temperature was assessed on embryonic stages of Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus), a species of high socio-economic interest, with a particular focus on the under-studied eastern English Channel winter-spawning component (Downs herring).

Teleost and elasmobranch eye lenses as a target for life-history stable isotope analyses.

Incrementally grown, metabolically inert tissues such as fish otoliths provide biochemical records that can used to infer behavior and physiology throughout the lifetime of the individual. Organic tissues are particularly useful as the stable isotope composition of the organic component can provide information about diet, trophic level and location. Unfortunately, inert, incrementally grown organic tissues are relatively uncommon.

Locations of marine animals revealed by carbon isotopes.

Knowing the distribution of marine animals is central to understanding climatic and other environmental influences on population ecology. This information has proven difficult to gain through capture-based methods biased by capture location. Here we show that marine location can be inferred from animal tissues.