The first offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Italy and the first gravity based structure (GBS) in the world for unloading, storing and re-gasifying liquefied natural gas, was authorized and realized. The Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA, formerly ICRAM) formulated and implemented a multidisciplinary monitoring plan at verifying possible impacts of the project on marine environment. Data from June 2006 to July 2012 on the soft-bottom macrozoobenthic assemblages around the LNG terminal are presented, with the aim of verifying possible disturbances on these assemblages associated with the LNG terminal, by comparing the structure of the benthic communities before and after installation of the terminal, and during its operation. Well-structured assemblages were observed for the entire period investigated, with all taxa normally represented both quantitatively and qualitatively. A temporary disturbance due to the construction of the LNG terminal was detected in the surrounding sediments, while the presence of the concrete structure did not show significant effects at the investigated distances.

Genus Onyx Cobb, 1891 has been reviewed and 19 valid species including two new species have been reported in the world. Two new species, Onyx rizhaoensis sp. nov. and Onyx minor sp. nov. from the Yellow Sea coast are described and illustrated. In addition to the genus characters Onyx rizhaoensis sp. nov. has relatively long cephalic setae; a single loop-shaped amphidial fovea; 12 S-shaped tubular precloacal supplements in 10 + 2 arrangement, posterior 10 closely spaced, anterior two set apart; female vulva situated at almost midpoint of the body. Onyx minor sp. nov. is characterized by a relatively small body for the genus (body length usually shorter than 800 μm); gubernaculum slender parallel to spicules and with a hooked dorsal apophysis; 12 S-shaped tubular precloacal supplements fairly evenly spaced; female vulva situated at about midbody. At the same time, a dichotomous key for Onyx males is proposed.

The structure of the microbial food web was studied in six estuary areas along the eastern Adriatic coast during March, July and October 2012. Limitation by phosphorus, not nitrogen, was a common feature for all studied estuaries. Heterotrophic bacteria and autotrophic picoplankton (APP) (particularly picoeukaryotes and Synechococcus) can reach notable abundances and biomasses, suggesting potential importance of the picoplankton community in P-limited estuarine environments. The main features of the microbial community structure in these environments included: (1) higher heterotrophic biomass in comparison to autotrophic biomass within the picoplankton community; (2) general domination of picoeukaryotes within the APP community, and increase of absolute and relative biomass of prokaryotic autotrophs (Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus) in the total APP in P-limited conditions; (3) domination of Synechococcus over Prochlorococcus biomass in all studied conditions, and common spatial distribution of these two groups of cyanobacteria, which was mostly determined by concentration of phosphorus; (4) relatively high contribution (about 50%) of LNA bacteria in the total bacterial abundance; and (5) relatively high contribution (about 33%) of heterotrophic pico-flagellates in the total flagellate abundance.

Growth rates and size-age at maturity are life history traits that combine in different ways to achieve maximal fitness. The marine scavenger Buccinanops globulosus was used as a model to explore the variation on female size-age at maturity and reproductive effort among three populations characterized by different growth rates (slow, moderate and rapid). This species constitutes the target of an artisanal fishery in North Patagonia. Here, a suite of different estimators of size-age at maturity derived from gonad histological analysis and the study of females carrying egg capsules were obtained. Data were modelled using a logistic function and the maturity patterns were compared among populations. We found that female size and age at maturity were variable and site-specific. The fastest-growing population showed the lowest reproductive effort. Slow and rapid-growing females mature at different sizes but at the same age whereas moderate-growing females mature both at a different size and age (intermediate size and at earlier age). Thus, results obtained here are difficult to reconcile with a single reaction norm for a single genotype in the studied populations. Growth rate variation is not enough to explain the patterns described here. The information provided could be used for the establishment of fishery management actions, such as minimum landing size.

The limpet Patella vulgata is a key species of northern Atlantic rocky shore-associated communities, and is commonly considered to be important in regulating populations of canopy-forming Ascophyllum nodosum, through consumption of propagules and young recruits. Although P. vulgata is usually regarded as a non-selective epilithic biofilm grazer, a role in the collapse of established A. nodosum through grazing of adult plants has been repeatedly suggested. Factors controlling the preference of P. vulgata for epilithic biofilm or adult algae are still not clearly established. Here, we test the hypothesis that the diet of P. vulgata is mainly driven by the local availability of food sources. Limpets were sampled along the first 6 metres of an A. nodosum bed–bare rock gradient. Stable isotope ratios of their muscle tissue and digestive glands were measured. The contribution of A. nodosum to the diet of limpets was the highest in the immediate vicinity of macroalgae beds, which confirmed our initial hypothesis. However, the contribution of epilithic biofilm did not match our hypothesis, being the lowest for limpets colonizing bare rock. Instead, these limpets relied on a wide array of sources, including ephemeral green algae, biofilm and drifting A. nodosum fragments. Overall, our results indicate that A. nodosum can be readily grazed by limpets, which challenges the hypothesis that these macroalgae dominate rocky shores due to the absence of strong top-down control exerted by herbivores. Our results also highlight the need to consider the small spatial scale to understand the dynamic of herbivore–algae interactions in natural environments.

Alterations of membrane lipid composition (cholesterol, phospholipids and their fatty acids) in response to various temperature changes were studied in blue mussels Mytilus edulis L. from the White Sea. Lipid composition changes after acute temperature stress, especially a temperature drop, included a significant reduction of the membrane phospholipid content directly (1 h) after return to the initial temperature, which was presumably a consequence of a non-specific stress reaction in the mussels. A longer recovery period (24 h) as well as long-term temperature acclimation (14 days) induced changes in gill fatty acid composition (for instance, a rise in phospholipid unsaturated fatty acids under low temperature impact), indicating ‘homeoviscous adaptation’ to maintain the membranes in response to temperature fluctuations. Moreover, the gill cholesterol level in mussels varied especially at long-term temperature exposure.

The model diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana is believed to be a single species with a global distribution, but it has not been confirmed previously whether isolates from different environmental and geographic origins are genotypically and phenotypically identical. In the present study, a polyphasic approach was employed to characterize nine clonal isolates, plus an additional replicate of one of the isolates, of the diatom T. pseudonana from culture collections to investigate whether there was any cryptic speciation in the publicly available strains of this species. Morphological analysis using scanning electron microscopy concluded that the strains were indistinguishable. Furthermore, conventional DNA barcoding genes (SSU rDNA, ITS1 and ITS2 rDNA and rbcL), revealed no nucleotide variation among the strains tested. On employing a whole genome fingerprinting technique, Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP), three clusters were revealed, although the level of variation between the clusters was surprisingly low. These findings indicate a low level of diversity among these cultured T. pseudonana strains, despite their wide spatial and temporal distribution and the salinity range of their original habitats. Based on the limited number of available strains, this suggests that T. pseudonana is a highly conserved diatom that nevertheless has an ability to tolerate wide ranges of salinity and populate varied geographic locations.

Until now only two species of Cladorhiza have been reported from the SW Atlantic, namely C. diminuta and C. inversa, despite a total of 39 species reported from various parts of the globe. Here we describe a new species, C. nicoleae sp. nov., dredged from 750 m depth on the continental slope off SE Brazil during the French RV ‘Marion Dufresne’ expedition in 1987. It is an erect, pedunculated and club-shaped sponge, 26 mm high and with 12 radially arranged whip-like projections (each up to 3 mm long). The new species differs from its closest relative, C. inversa (redescribed here), by its possession of sigmas and sigmancistras. The holotype of Cladorhiza inversa is also a pedunculated sponge, 1.9 cm tall, with a cup-shaped body with an apical spur-like continuation of the stem and a crown of 16 projections (up to 8 mm long) radiating from the rim of the body.

Re-examination of the holotype male of Zehntneriana villosa (Zehntner, 1894) (from Ambon, Indonesia) shows that Japanese specimens previously referred to this species should be designated as a new species, Zehntneriana tadafumii sp. nov. The new species differs from Z. villosa in several characters, including the carapace, epistome, third maxilliped and thoracic sternum. Here, we redescribe and illustrate Z. villosa s. str. and the new species. In addition, the taxonomy of Zehntneriana Ng & Takeda, 2010, is also discussed.

Sex change, or sequential hermaphroditism, occurs in the plant and animal kingdoms and often determines a predominance of the first sex. Our aim was to explore changes in sex ratios within the range of the species studied: Patella vulgata and Patella depressa. The broad-scale survey of sex with size of limpets covered a range of latitudes from Zambujeira do Mar (southern Portugal) to the English Channel. Indirect evidence was found for the occurrence of protandry in P. vulgata populations from the south of England, with females predominating in larger size-classes; cumulative frequency distributions of males and females were different; sex ratios were biased towards males and smallest sizes of males were smaller than the smallest sizes of females. In contrast in Portugal females were found in most size-classes of P. vulgata. In P. depressa populations from the south coast of England and Portugal females were interspersed across most size-classes; size distributions of males and females and size at first maturity of males and females did not differ. P. depressa did, however, show some indications of the possibility of slight protandry occurring in Portugal. The test of sex ratio variation with latitude indicated that P. vulgata sex ratios might be involved in determining the species range limit, particularly at the equatorward limit since the likelihood of being male decreased from the south coast of England to southern Portugal. Thus at the southern range limit, sperm could be in short supply due to scarcity of males contributing to an Allee effect.

Didiscus gladius sp. nov. is described from Bahia State (Brazil). The sponge is thinly encrusting to lump-shaped and has a glassy, translucent appearance, through which the spiculation is clearly visible. The megascleres are styles and two categories of oxeas. The microscleres are discorhabds. Colour is beige or brown in ethanol. Didiscus verdensis is the nearest relative in the Atlantic which differs from the new species in a series of traits (e.g. absence of true styles and presence of strongyles). A key to species of Didiscus is given.

Temperature is one of the most influential factors for the sexual maturation of fishes, but understanding of the extent to which temperature affects the maturational schedules is limited in multiple-spawning fishes over a protracted season. This study examined the effect of temperature on sexual maturation of Japanese anchovy Engraulis japonicus siblings under high and low temperature regimes on different birthdates. The maturation probability differed between the two temperature regimes. Specimens in high temperature regimes matured at much smaller size and younger age than their counterparts. Also, a significant difference in the maturation probability between sexes was found at low temperatures, but not at high temperatures. Our findings show that temperature affects the maturational schedules of siblings of Japanese anchovy, suggesting that the size and age at sexual maturation could differ among cohorts, even in a given sampling location and/or year.

Multiple tagging devices have been developed for long-term studies and estimating demographic parameters in sea urchins. In this study, we evaluated the use of passive integrated transponders (PIT-tag), and two types of nylon tags (T-bar and S-tag) in the sea urchin Diadema antillarum by measuring retention rate and apparent survival. The PIT-tags exhibited the highest retention, followed by T-bars, and lastly the S-tags. Differences in recapture were detected among the three types of tags (H = 6.99, P = 0.030). An a posteriori pairwise comparison test found significant differences between PIT-tags and each of the other two types (P < 0.05), whereas T-bar and S-tag did not exhibit significant differences between them (P > 0.05). The semi-captivity experiment exhibited similar results to the field experiment in terms of retention. This experiment also found higher mortality with T-bars. Differences between previous studies conducted under controlled conditions and experiments carried out in the field reflect high variability and the necessity of testing tagging procedures under both settings. The S-tag induced high spine autotomy and low retention; whereas the T-bar demonstrated low retention and low survival. Although the retention rate of PIT-tags was significantly higher than the other two, retention rates were still too low for practical utility in long-term field experiments. In conclusion, the present study does not support the use of any of these tags for long-term studies in D. antillarum.

Many species of marine sponges on tropical reefs host abundant and diverse symbiont communities capable of varied metabolic pathways. While such communities may confer a nutritional benefit to some hosts (termed High Microbial Abundance (HMA) sponges), other sympatric species host only sparse symbiont communities (termed Low Microbial Abundance (LMA) sponges) and obtain a majority of their C and N from local sources. Sponge communities are widespread across large latitudinal gradients, however, and recent evidence suggests that these symbioses may also extend beyond the tropics. We investigated the role that symbionts play in the ecology of sponges from the temperate, hard-bottom reefs of Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary by calculating the niche size (as standard ellipse area (SEAc)) and assessing the relative placement of five HMA and four LMA sponge species within bivariate (δ13C and δ15N) isotopic space. Although photosymbiont abundance was low across most of these species, sponges were widespread across isotopic niche space, implying that microbial metabolism confers an ecological benefit to temperate sponges by expanding host metabolic capability. To examine how these associations vary across a latitudinal gradient, we also compared the relative placement of temperate and tropical conspecifics within isotopic space. Surprisingly, shifts in sponge δ13C and δ15N values between these regions suggest a reduced reliance on symbiont-derived nutrients in temperate sponges compared with their tropical conspecifics. Despite this, symbiotic sponges in temperate systems likely have a competitive advantage, allowing them to grow and compete for space within these habitats.

This is the first study performed to determine the health status of the geoduck Panopea abbreviata in the San José and San Matías Gulfs (North Patagonia, Argentina). The study was based on 120 geoducks collected (30 specimens in each season) at Fracasso Beach (42°25′S 64°07′W) (San José Gulf) and 30 specimens collected during the austral summer at Puerto Lobos (42°00′S 65°05′W) (San Matías Gulf). The parasites found (prevalence in parentheses) were: prokaryotic inclusions (32.2%) were recorded in the epithelium of the digestive gland and gill filaments; ciliates (79%) mainly found in gills; Porospora-like gregarines (15.2%) in the connective tissue between inner and outer mantle epitheliums; the turbellarian Paravortex panopea (27.1%) in the intestine lumen; the nemertean Malacobdella arrokeana (98.3%) in the pallial cavity; and the green alga Coccomyxa parasitica (51%) parasitizing the haemocytes in the connective tissue of the distal end of the siphon. The highest mean parasitic abundance value was found in the late austral spring (November), coinciding with the lowest values of the condition index of the host. The populations of P. abbreviata from San José Gulf seemed to be devoid of severe pathogens.

Knowledge of the population dynamics and productivity of exploited species is essential to achieve the sustainable development of fisheries, and to ensure sustainable, long-term use of these resources. The venerid clam Anomalocardia brasiliana is harvested as a fishery resource from the French West Indies to Brazil. Yet, the exploitation of this species is not backed by management or regulations based on scientific knowledge. This can result in reduced (or even depleted) A. brasiliana density and biomass. Here, we examined the population dynamics of A. brasiliana over the course of 1 year at Cidade Beach, a sheltered sandy beach located in south-eastern Brazil. Sampling was done monthly from March 2007 to February 2008. The sampled population was predominantly juvenile. Growth and recruitment were continuous, indicating no major fluctuation in limiting factors, such as temperature, salinity and food. Nevertheless, the abundance and the turnover rate (P/B ratio) of A. brasiliana at Cidade were much smaller than the values observed in other areas of occurrence. The mortality was more intense in young individuals, and the peak of individual production occurred in individuals with a 25 mm shell length, suggesting that individuals smaller than this size should not be exploited.

The heteronemertean species Micrura dellechiajei is thus far only known from its type locality in the Gulf of Naples (Italy) and has not been recorded in 120 years. During two oceanographic surveys conducted in Spanish Mediterranean waters, several nemertean specimens were collected, and thorough morphological examination indicated that some of these pertained to the species M. dellechiajei, suggesting that populations may be more widespread than previously thought. Because of the rarity of this species coupled with the fact that its last morphological narrative was given 120 years ago, we here provide a redescription of the species based on the new specimens, complete with illustrations and new data concerning its morphology, and we also place some of the collected specimens in a molecular phylogenetic framework.

In Pakistan, although the sea cucumber fishery has not yet been developed, Holothuria arenicola is abundant on its coast. Nineteen months of sampling was carried out to study the population structure, allometric relationships and reproductive status of H. arenicola stocks in Manora and Buleji rocky shores. All measured biometric characters showed significant temporal variations and width/length, weight/length, gutted weight/length and gutted weight/weight relationships followed negative allometry, indicating a change in body shape as the animal grows. Length-frequency distribution analysis was bimodal in both summer and autumn consisting of small-sized and medium-sized individuals while in winter and spring three modes were found at Manora. At Buleji, the population was unimodal in all seasons consisting of small-sized individuals. Sex in H. arenicola cannot be determined externally but can be identified on examination of gonad colour which is orange-like in females and creamy yellow in males. The sex was further confirmed on histological examination and maturation was divided into five stages, i.e. undetermined, early developing, late developing, mature and partially spawned. The sex ratio in H. arenicola was approximately 1:1 and increase in gonad index was observed during spring and early summer, followed by a decrease in GI in autumn and winter, which showed the spawning followed by resting phase. The GI showed a significant negative correlation with salinity and non-significant correlation with temperature. There is a need to undertake more biological/ecological studies on H. arenicola in order to take effective measures for its management.