Vol 42, No 1 (2016)

The morphological variability in sympatric populations of the Far Eastern redfins Tribolodon brandti and T. hakonensis from bays of the Sea of Japan was studied by analyzing the standard set of measurements that is used for the description of cyprinid fishes. It has been established that the interpopulation morphological differences between individuals within each species exceed the differences between species. The main causes of intraand interspecies differences have been revealed.

A specimen of the crocodile shark Pseudocarcharias kamoharai (TL 104.5 cm), which was caught off the southern Kuril Islands for the first time in Russian waters, is described.

A new species of centroderid kinorhynchs, Condyloderes kurilensis sp. nov., collected from muddy sediment at the abyssal plain near the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench, North-West Pacific, is described and illustrated using light and electron microscopy. Previously, members of the genus Condyloderes were found only in nearly shallow water enviroments—C. multispinosus (North Sea), C. paradoxus (Bengal Bay), C. setoensis (Tanabe Bay, Japan), C. storchi (Argentina coast), and C. megastigma (Korea Strait). The new species is characterized by the presence of lateroventral cuspidate spines only on trunk segment 8 in both sexes, paired ventromedial appendages (tubules) on trunk segments 7 and 8 in females only, and dorsolateral spines on trunk segment 10 in males only. Condyloderes kurilensis sp. nov. constitutes the sixth species of the genus Condyloderes described so far and the only second abyssal species of the Kinorhyncha described from the North-West Pacific. A key to the six species of the genus Condyloderes is proposed.

The seaslug Janolus fuscus of the family Proctonotidae, which is new to the Russian fauna, was found in the Sea of Japan for the first time. A small population of this mollusk was found at the northwestern coast on a bank occupying approximately 3000 m² of the sea bottom south of Rudnaya Bay. Data on the distribution, ecology, radula morphology, and feeding of this mollusk on the bryozoan Microporina articulata are presented. The differences between J. fuscus and similar species of the genus Janolus are discussed. The partial sequences (614 bp) of the mitochondrial COI gene differed in two nucleotide substitutions, suggesting that the population that is found in the Sea of Japan is conspecific to the North American J. fuscus.

The viral and bacterioplankton communities of the Barents Sea were investigated using a combination of methods of electron and epifluorescence microscopy for the first time. The quantitative composition of the communities and the nature of their interactions were also determined. Our study showed that during the summer the abundance and biomass of bacterioplankton reached 0.4–4.0 × 10⁶ cells/mL and 25.09–84.21 mg/m³ in offshore waters and 0.4–1.8 × 10⁶ cells/mL and 19.63–100.19 mg/m³ in coastal waters, respectively. In both regions, the number of viruses (1.7–35.8 × 10⁶ and 14.5–32.4 × 10⁶ particles/mL) exceeded the number of bacteria by 2–31 and 13–60 times, respectively; the average viral production was 0.7510⁶ and 1.74 × 10⁶ particles/mL/day, respectively. The proportion of infected cells in the total bacterioplankton (7% on average) and virus-induced mortality of bacteria (8%) were much lower in offshore than in coastal waters (14 and 20%, respectively).

Due to the constant increasing of bacterial resistance against known antibiotics, it is now necessary to find new sources of antimicrobials including the marine environment. The aim of this study was to evaluate antimicrobial activity of bacterial strains isolated from different coastal regions of the Caspian Sea and to provide phylogenetic analyses of antibiotic producing strains. Water samples collected from the Caspian Sea were serially diluted and plated on selective media. Isolates were tested against a panel of reference strains (Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) by microbial antagonism and disc diffusion assay. Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean (UPGMA) method was also employed to produce a phylogenetic tree based on 16S rDNA sequences. Amongst 162 isolates, 8 strains (4.93%) showed antibacterial activity. Isolated bacteria displayed more activity against gram-positive bacteria than gram-negative bacteria. Moreover, the 16S sequences obtained for the 8 selected strains were compared using a BLAST algorithm and allowed us to determine the strains genus as followed: Bacillus (RS28, RS54, RS56, RS82, RS116, and NS53), Brevundimonas (RS32), and Arthrobacter (NS25). The findings of the present study recommend that culturally marine bacteria collected from the Caspian Sea might be a potent source of novel bioactive compounds such as antibiotics.

Comparative study between few species of goatfishes (Mullidae), locally called Sultan Ibrahim, has been investigated from Jeddah coast. The present study compares gonad structure, oogenesis and spermatogenesis in three species of goatfish. The various stages are similar in the different species, but differ in time of spawning. The reproductive biology of three goatfishes, Mulloidichthys flavolineatus (1 black blotch), Mulloidichthys flavolineatus (3 black blotches), Mulloidichthys vanicolensis, were examined. A macroscopic and histological examination of the gonads demonstrated that all the three species are typically gonochoristic. Species-specific reproductive parameters including male stages, changes in gonado-somatic index (GSI), classification of oocyte stages were analyzed for each of the three targeted species. All three species have asynchronous ovary. The spawning season for the three studied species differ from one species to another i.e., the spawning season for M. vanicolensis females and males from April to July; M. flavolineatus, (1 black blotches) for both sexes from May until December; for M. flavolineatus (3 black blotches) showed a peak in May to early October for both sexes. Ultrastructurally the mature spermatozoon’s head shape appears like a computermouse, the tiny mid-piece consist two mitochondria and a flagellum. The chromatin, within the nucleus is electron-dense and homogenous in M. flavolineatus (with one black blotch), while the chromatin is granular in (M. vanicolensis and M. flavolineatus (3 black blotches)). The posterior region of the nucleus is deeply penetrated by the nuclear fossa which contains, the basal part of flagellum and centriolar complex. The ultrastructure of the eggs of the three Mullidae species is circular in shape and contains a simple, circular micropyle. The ovarian follicular epithelium of the three Mullidae species consists of two layers, an outer theca layer and an inner granulosa layer with zona radiata under them. Zona radiata consists of 2 layer-interna and externa. Zona radiata interna is thicker than zona radiata externa. Differences in protein patterns of muscles and gonads were observed in the present study.

Setae on the mouthparts of juvenile and adult red king crabs, Paralithodes camtschaticus (Tilesius, 1815), were studied. A total of seven types of setae have been differentiated; their distribution over the mouthparts was determined. It was established that setules and denticles on the surface of setae show a tendency to shorten and/or disappear as the body grows; the length of the setae decreases relative to the size of the individual; the number of setae of most types increases considerably, forming dense groups of setae. These changes are apparently related to the fact that the effectiveness of the functions that are performed by solitary setae decreases with the growth in the size of an individual; these functions are subsequently assumed by groups of setae.

The activities of antioxidant enzymes and the contents of the oxidized forms of the proteins in the blood of the Black Sea round goby Neogobius melanostomus, which were sampled in the waters of Sevastopol in 2003 and 2012, were studied. An increase in the values of the tested biomarkers in fish catches of 2012 compared to those of 2003 was recorded. The causes for the observed changes are discussed.

The influence of habitat conditions on the activity, the structure of the substrate specificity (the ratio of the substrate hydrolysis rates), and the kinetic parameters of substrate hydrolysis due to the effect of hemolymph cholinesterase of the mussel Crenomytilus grayanus was studied. Mussels were collected from areas that are influenced by seasonal and stationary upwelling, as well as from a polluted area. Upwelling and anthropogenic pressure were shown to alter the structure of hemolymph cholinesterase substrate specificity in mussels, up to complete loss of the ability to catalyze the hydrolysis of propionyland butyrylthiocholine. It was established that during the seasonal upwelling the efficiency of the cholinergic process in mussels is provided by a wide range of effective concentrations of the substrates and by decreasing their affinity to the enzyme. Under the conditions of chronic anthropogenic pollution, the cholinesterase of the mussel hemolymph loses its ability to hydrolyze substrates other than acetylthiocholine.

The protein composition of the outer (OM) and cytoplasmic (CM) membranes of the cell envelope of the psychrotolerant marine bacterium Shewanella frigidimarina Pi 2-35, which was isolated from a sample of sea ice from the Amur Bay (Sea of Japan), was analyzed using SDS-PAGE. The cell envelope of this microorganism has been found to contain high molecular weight proteins, cytochromes, which were extracted with detergents of different types. It is shown that the composition of the CM of S. frigidimarina Pi 2-35 does not depend on the cultivation temperature. Proteins with a molecular weight (MW) within the range of 30–50 kDa, which is characteristic for nonspecific porins of terrestrial Gram-negative bacteria, were detected only in the OM of bacteria that were cultivated at a low temperature (6–8°C). Two porin-like proteins, P_ZW (MW 40 kDa) and P_LYS (MW 34.5 kDa), were isolated from the OM by extraction with the 0.5% non-ionic detergent Zwittergent 3-14 and by digestion of the peptidoglycan layer of the cell envelope with lysozyme, respectively. The use of the bilayer lipid membrane (BLM) technique showed that both proteins exhibit a pore-forming activity. The efficiency of channel formation and the pattern of fluctuations of current in the BLM indicate that the isolated porins are not identical in their functional properties.

This study examines the fatty radical (FR) composition and heat-induced crystalline to liquidcrystalline phase transitions of phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) from the gills, hepatopancreas, gonads, and muscle of the tanner crab Chionoecetes bairdi, which was collected in the summer at a near-bottom water temperature of 2.8°C. The location of the PC and PE thermograms below 2.8°C indicates the functionally optimal liquid crystalline state of the membrane lipid matrix. The proximity of the thermogram profiles of PC and PE from the different organs and tissues of C. bairdi and significant overlapping of the temperature areas of transitions (symbatic behavior) correlate with a similar composition of major FR and their total parameters in PC and PE. The obtained data point to the effective adaptation of the bairdi crab to low water temperatures and to the need for adaptive changes in the FR composition or change of habitat with increasing temperature. The thermotropic behavior of muscle PC, in which the greater part of the thermogram is in the temperature range from 2.8 to 32°C, suggests a potential for the tanner crab to adapt to increased temperatures.

The ranges of background concentrations of Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, and Cd in Fucus algae from the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the White Sea were determined. The lower background threshold of element concentration was calculated as Me₁₅–2MAD₁₅, the upper background threshold was determined as Me+2MAD. The upper background threshold of the metal contents in Fucus algae can be used as the maximum permissible regional concentration in assessing pollution levels of marine habitats. Comparison of the Me₁₅–2MAD₁₅ values showed that Fucus algae of the White Sea had increased Mn and decreased Cd concentrations compared to those in Pacific algae. The concentrations of Zn were higher in Fucus algae of the Sea of Japan than in macrophytes from the White Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk. The background concentration range of Fe in Fucus algae of the Sea of Japan was much narrower compared to that in their counterparts from the White Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk. The background metal concentrations in Fucus algae are specific to a sea region; their variations are connected not only with the trace element contents in abiotic components of the environment, but also with the functioning of coastal ecosystems.

For the first time the data on the morphology of the larval and early juvenile shell of Pododesmus macrochisma (Deshayes, 1839), which is the only species of the Anomiidae family that inhabits the Peter the Great Bay, is given. The basic attribution characters of larval shell of this species at the veliconcha stage are the absence of the eye, the dark color of the shell, a shell height: length ratio that is nearly one, and the presence of four to five denticles at each side of the provinculum. A description of the early juvenile shell is given. The results of the study can be used to identify larvae in the plankton and early settled juveniles.

We determined the entire genome sequence of the marine bacterium Cobetia marina KMM 296 de novo, which was isolated from the mussel Crenomytilus grayanus that inhabits the Sea of Japan. The genome that provides the lifestyle of this marine bacterium provides alternative metabolic pathways that are characteristic of the inhabitants of the rhizospheres of terrestrial plants, as well as deep-sea ecological communities (symbiotic and free-living bacteria). The genome of C. marina KMM 296 contains genes that are involved in the metabolism and transport of nitrogen, sulfur, iron, and phosphorus. C. marina strain KMM 296 is a promising source of unique psychrophilic enzymes and essential secondary metabolites.