In summer 1997, the stomach contents of 235 red pandora collected by bottom trawl from Hisarönü Bay in the southern Aegean coast of Turkey, were analysed. It was observed that red pandora is predominantly a diurnal feeder. More intensive feeding started in the afternoon, reaching its maximum value in the evening and continued until dusk. The minimum feeding intensity occurred during the night. The diet was found to consist primarily of polychaetes, especially Glyceridae, and crustaceans, mainly Natantia. No significant diel variation was observed in the diet composition of red pandora.

Loripes lucinalis, a small bivalve belonging to the Lucinacea superfamily living in reducing coastal sediments, possesses chemoautotrophic sulphur-oxidizing bacteria in its gill. Here, a population of putative sulphur-oxidizing bacteria is described colonizing the bivalve's inner periostracal secretion. The bacteria were particularly abundant in the vicinity of the anterior and posterior inhalant syphons. Most of the bacteria observed were oval to rod-shaped and measured 3·9±1·2 μm on average. Histology and negative transmission electron microscopy staining revealed that these bacteria contain refractile spherules similar to those seen in the endocellular gill symbionts of L. lucinalis.

When the mean adult length and mean clutch volume of marine turtles are examined, a clear pattern for larger species to lay larger clutches is evident, in accord with predictions that female size constrains the available space for carrying eggs. However, when compared with this general trend, the volume of clutches laid by flatback turtles (Natator depressa) are smaller than expected. The implication is that the unusually flat morphology of flatback turtles, provides an additional constraint on their egg carrying capacity.

A large, mature, female cirrate octopod, Cirroteuthis magna, was caught in a research trawl at 3200-m depth on the Cape Verde Terrace off the west African coast in November 1999. It is only the fourth recorded specimen of this species and the largest specimen (1,700 mm TL; 330 mm ML) of cirrate octopod ever caught. Detailed measurements were taken of the fresh and preserved specimen and indicated considerable shrinkage (17–32%) during formalin preservation. Careful dissection revealed large mature eggs (12·5–14 mm long) in the proximal oviduct, and a wide range of egg sizes and development stages in the ovary. The taxonomy and ecology of the species is briefly discussed.

Ectoparasitic crustaceans (Copepoda: Caligidae) occurred at considerable frequency in stomach contents of young specimens of Diplodus sargus and Diplodus puntazzo (Pisces: Sparidae) from two central Mediterranean coastal lagoons. This finding suggests that the ectoparasites might give a non-negligible contribution to the diet of the studied fish species and reveal a certain adaptive advantage of cleaning behaviour in coastal environments.

Observations and censi of the echinoid Paracentrotus lividus over 40 y at Lough Hyne marine nature reserve have revealed population fluctuations of >4 orders of magnitude. The P. lividus population has been anomalously low since the mid 1980s. The population age–size structure has also changed considerably and is now dominated by older individuals. Sea temperature is a known and important determinant of spawning (and recruitment) in this species. In certain years sea surface temperatures (SST) may not reach critical values for P. lividus mass-spawning to be triggered. In addition, toxic dinoflagellate blooms may have been responsible for large-scale mortalities within short periods. Years of anomalously low SSTs match the timing of critical decreases in the Lough Hyne P. lividus population. Years with low maximum SSTs coincide with the timing of major El Niňo Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. We suggest a SST and possibly ENSO link to unfished (Lough Hyne) P. lividus population changes and propose such links as potential aggravating factors in the decline of the fisheries.

We challenge a conclusion reached by Barnes & de Villiers in a paper that was recently published in this Journal, viz that certain benthic invertebrates occur in lower abundances in lagoons than in intertidal soft-bottom areas and that this difference is due to lower food supply at lagoon bottoms. Our experience in the Wadden Sea shows that food does not limit the abundance of primary consumers in areas where environmental conditions are harsh. Such conditions prevail in most of the upper half of the intertidal which is characterized by low abundance of zoobenthos despite a high food supply.

There is sometimes a significant bias in the sex ratio of fish caught by longline. Usually, more females than males are caught. The possible reasons for unequal sex ratios in longline catches are listed and discussed. One sex could be more common in the area where the fishery takes place because there really is an unequal sex ratio in the population or because the other sex preferentially occurs in different places. Alternatively, longline fishery might preferentially catch one of the sexes. This could be a result of size difference between the sexes and thus a different response to the given hook size or bait size. Finally, sexes could differ in their feeding behaviour. There is growing evidence that females—not only of fish—are ‘energy maximizers’: they find food faster and spend more time feeding than do males. Thus, fishing methods using bait are likely to catch a higher proportion of females than fishing methods that do not use bait.

The Mediterranean parrotfish Sparisoma cretense is reported for the first time along the south-eastern coasts of Apulia (Ionian Sea, south-east Italy). Only juvenile specimens of S. cretense were observed during visual census surveys carried out in late August 2000, whereas adults were never observed in, or reported from, this region. Juvenile parrotfish were 3–4-cm long (TL), with a light-grey livery, pale-yellow heads and marked yellow margins around the eyes. They were recorded at 5–15 m depth, whereas they were absent near the surface (0–2 m depth) and in deeper areas (25–28 m depth). The possibility that climatic changes occurring in the Mediterranean basin (i.e. water warming) would be involved in the spreading of S. cretense outside its typical distribution range is discussed.

Length–weight relationships were estimated for 18 Red Sea immigrant fish species from the eastern Mediterranean coasts of Turkey. The values of the exponent b in the length–weight regression (W= aLb) ranged between 2·482 and 3·355. The median value was 3·018 and 50% of the values ranged between 2·835 and 3·121.

Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) surfacing intervals were recorded over a period of three years in the coastal waters of Mull, Coll and the Small Isles, in the north-west of Scotland. Significant differences in surfacing intervals were noted both throughout the day and throughout the year. Surfacing intervals were shortest at noon and in the months of June and July. Surfacing intervals were longest both mid-morning and mid-afternoon and during May and August. Differences in surfacing intervals were interpreted to be the result of ecological changes such as different foraging strategies. Consequently, the results of this study have an impact on the methodologies and designs of minke whale sightings surveys.

This study provides a description of the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) diet from the Aegean Sea coast of Turkey. A total of 23 prey items belonging to five species were identified from the two stomachs examined. Cephalopods constitute the dominant prey group by weight (94·01%). Sarcotragus sp. (Porifera) and Posidonia oceanica (Magnoliophyta) are assumed to be incidental prey. Of the cephalopods identified, Eledone moschata and Bathypolypus sponsalis were encountered for the first time in a monk seal stomach.

The demographic structure of a population of Paracentrotus lividus living in a coastal Mediterranean lagoon was studied in 1990. Analysis of this structure revealed that the population examined was made up of four distinct cohorts which represented individuals 2, 3, 4 and over 4 y of age. The variability in demographic structure as a function of biotope revealed that sea urchin migration occurred from the pebble area (recruitment area, high sea urchin density and overgrazing facies) towards areas made up of Cymodocea nodosa sea grass beds (growth areas, low density and abundant prefered food). These migrations seem to have been caused by food limitation in the former biotope coupled with a shift in diet in young individuals.

In Mont Saint-Michel Bay, one of the most abundant food items in young sea bass diets was Mytilus edulis. This invertebrate is an abundant cultured bivalve in many coastal systems and it is known to be in direct trophic competition with the natural food items of sea bass. This study shows that mussel culture can play the role of a nursery area, providing food for young opportunistic fish. Quantification of these interactions appears to be of a major importance in order to enable sustainable management of coastal areas.

Otoliths from the stomachs of 138 by-caught grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) from the west coast of Ireland were compared with otoliths from the stomachs of 364 commercially caught cod(Gadus morhua) to determine if there were any overlaps in type, number and size of prey that might be attributable to secondary ingestion. A total of 19 species/groups were common to both cod and seal stomachs accounting for 99·6% and 95·8% of the otoliths from cod and seal stomachs respectively. There were significant differences between the otolith/fish lengths of all six species/groups compared but there were overlaps in the size distributions. Analysis of the diet composition of the cod stomachs suggested that larger cod consumed mainly fish and smaller cod consumed mainly crustaceans. Cod and seals were utilizing the same fish prey but the seals were generally consuming larger fish. Overlaps between the size distributions of prey species/groups suggest that secondary ingestion was possible and should be considered in future seal diet studies.

Microsatellite loci are one category of genetic markers that are frequently highly polymorphic. As such they have proved to be extremely useful tools for examining the population biology of many different taxa, and offer the potential to discriminate among fish stocks. Here, four new polymorphic microsatellite loci in the European plaice, Pleuronectes platessa are reported. In addition, data are provided on the utility of all published plaice microsatellite loci in flounder (P. flesus), lemon sole (Microstomus kitt) and Dover sole (Solea solea).