The relative distribution of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) and sea surface temperature (SST) fronts have been studied in summer in the north-western Mediterranean Sea. We used passive acoustic data (778 samples) obtained offshore during dedicated surveys between 1999 and 2004 and Pathfinder/Modis remote sensing data to compute front maps and to calculate mean distances from sperm whale detections (N=132) to SST-fronts. Mean distances from sperm whale acoustic detections to SST-fronts were significantly lower (10.4 km) than from other acoustic samples to those fronts (17.0 km). The same result was obtained when calculating distances from sperm whales to the North Balearic Front surface signature. If sperm whales are commonly observed along the continental slope, we showed that offshore individuals were located close to SST-fronts. This bimodal distribution in the north-western Mediterranean is linked to sperm whale feeding strategy, demonstrating ecological opportunistic behaviour in this high level predator.

The species diversity and distribution of demosponges dwelling in the coral reefs, at Had Khanom—Mo Ko Thale Tai National Park on the southern coast of the Gulf of Thailand, was investigated, with field surveys undertaken at 12 sites in November 2006 using SCUBA diving and random observation. Forty-five species of demosponges from 10 orders, 24 families and 34 genera were recorded. The most abundant and common sponges in this area are: Oceanapia sagittaria; Neopetrosia sp. blue; Xestospongia testudinaria; and Haliclona (Gellius) cymaeformis. Most species are common representatives of the Indo-Pacific fauna found throughout the Gulf of Thailand.

Sophrosyne robertsoni was recorded from the west coast of Ireland. This is the first record of the species from outside Scottish waters. Previous authors have commented on the similarity of this species to Sophrosyne hispana and suggested that they may be conspecific. Here both species are re-described and their status determined.

Seamounts, although abundant features of the world's oceans, constitute one of the least studied marine ecosystems. In the present work we assessed the diversity and zoogeographical affinities of the demosponge assemblages of Gettysburg and Ormonde Seamounts (Gorringe Bank, north-east Atlantic). Twenty-three demosponge species were identified adding to the thirteen previously reported for Gorringe shallow-water. Gorringe's demosponge assemblage was found to be mainly composed of species with a wide Atlanto–Mediterranean distribution (61%) and a group of species (28%) that are endemic to this Bank or have a restricted geographical distribution. This high level of endemism suggests the Gorringe Bank as a hotspot for demosponge fauna in the north-east Atlantic. Gorringe demosponge fauna was found to present an overall moderate similarity to the Mediterranean, Iberian coasts and Macaronesian archipelagos. We compare our findings with patterns reported for fish and molluscan faunas for this Bank and discuss some evolutionary aspects on the role of these ecosystems for the north-east Atlantic marine biota.

Sperm whale residency and movements within the Mediterranean Sea were investigated using photo-identification data collected in summer over a 15 year period (1991–2005). Surveys were conducted from a 12 m motor sailing boat. Although dedicated to cetaceans, surveys did not solely focus on sperm whale photo-identification, so time to track and photograph all individuals forming a group was not always available. From good quality photographs, 44 individuals were identified in the western Mediterranean, including the Ligurian Sea, the Gulf of Lions and waters off the Balearics. Eleven identified whales were photographically re-captures. Within-year re-sightings occurred from 1 to 29 d apart, while five identified whales were re-sighted over several summer seasons, from 1 to 7 y apart. Four whales were seen in more than one year in the northern part of the basin, indicating site fidelity to this feeding area. The combination of photo-identification and acoustic data (size estimation from inter-pulse interval measurements) enabled us to demonstrate a north–south movement of some sexually mature males (around 13 m in length), feeding in the northern regions and joining groups of females off the Balearics for around 20 d. These displacements ranged over ~500 km, with travelling time of seven days or less.

Using a 25-year time series of monthly samples, it is shown that the fish community of Bridgwater Bay in the outer Severn estuary is rapidly responding to changes in seawater temperature, salinity and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The number of fish caught each year has followed an increasing trend, which could be related to increased temperature and decreased salinity. In contrast to this smooth change, there have been two discrete transitions in fish community structure around 1986 and 1993. The first of these step changes, which altered the relative abundance of the dominant species, was linked to a change in the NAO. The second, which was caused by a change in the set of occasional visitor species, was linked to an increase in average seawater temperature. A marked increase in population variability for many fish in recent years is linked to increased seawater temperature. Generally, the position of the southern geographical limit of a species is a good indicator of their individual responses to higher temperatures. The effects of future climate change are discussed. A 2°C increase in inshore seawater temperature is predicted to increase total species richness of fish in Bridgwater Bay by 10%, although most of this gain will be warm water tourists. Predicting future communities requires consideration of combined changes in temperature, the NAOI and salinity. While the system can change to a warmer water community, there is likely to be increased short-term community instability during periods with unfavourable combinations of the key environmental variables. Such a destabilization was observed in 2002 when the abundance of many species suddenly increased then declined. A different combination of NAO, high temperature and salinity may, in the future, produce a considerable less favourable combination resulting in recruitment collapse for many species.

Gobies emit sounds during different stages of reproduction, including courtship, pre-spawning events (in the nest) and spawning. The breeding sounds of the painted goby Pomatoschistus pictus and associated courtship behaviour were recorded in captivity and described for the first time. Males emitted thump-like sounds mainly when displaying alone in the nest and produced drumming sounds outside the nest. Thumps have never been reported for other species of the genus Pomatoschistus. Thumps were short (~80 ms) very-low frequency (below 100 Hz) non-pulsed sounds, whereas drums were longer (hundreds of ms) and consisted of low frequency (~300 Hz) pulse trains. Thump characteristics varied significantly among males but also showed high within-male variability. The frequency of thump emissions and courtship behaviour (total number of courtship displays, lead and nest display) were positively correlated with male size but not with male somatic condition. Thump bursts emitted during nest displays were significantly longer than when emitted with other behaviours. These results suggest that larger males courted females more intensively, both with visual and acoustic displays, than smaller ones.

Nebalia kocatasi sp. nov. (Crustacea: Leptostraca) is described from specimens collected off the coast of Turkey (Aegean Sea). The new species differs from the other known species of the genus in having a rostrum about 2.4 times as long as wide, the antennular scale is twice as long as wide, the third article of the antennule has up to four short distal spines, the third article of the antenna has three robust spines on the external lateral face, the two distalmost being the longest, the endopod of the second maxila is composed of two sub-equal articles, the exopod of the second maxilla is as long as the first article of the endopod, pleonites 6–7 have pointed denticles along the posterior dorsal borders, the protopod of pleopod 4 has 2–3 serrations along the posterior border and the terminal seta of the caudal furca is about twice the length of rami. This is the second leptostracan species reported to date from the eastern Mediterranean.

The sub-structure of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) stocks in the North Sea has important consequences for fisheries management as the Common Fisheries Policy moves towards a more regional approach. We investigated the movements, distribution and behaviour of cod in the southern North Sea (ICES IVc) and English Channel (ICES VIId) by re-analysing historic data from conventional tagging experiments, and by conducting new experiments with electronic tags. Cod tagged and released in IVc showed a northwards shift in distribution during the feeding season consistent with a homing migration away from spawning grounds along the coasts of the UK and the Netherlands. In contrast, cod tagged and released in VIId did not exhibit a consistent pattern of seasonal movement. Many cod released in VIId were subsequently recaptured close to their release position, although some moved out of the Channel and into the southern North Sea. Overlap between the recapture areas of cod released in the different management areas was no more than 25% in either the spawning or feeding season. Behavioural data from electronic tags suggest that cod in IVc make use of tidal streams to migrate northwards and eastwards in spring, whereas selective tidal stream transport was rarely exhibited by cod tagged and released in VIId. Overall, the evidence suggests that there are behavioural differences between cod in IVc and VIId that limit the mixing of cod from these two areas during the feeding and spawning seasons.

Data on habitat use by marine tucuxis (Sotalia guianensis) were collected in Guanabara Bay (GB), south-eastern Brazil, over a two-year period. Diurnal activities of marine tucuxis were dominated by behaviour related to feeding/foraging (58% of all recorded time). Dolphins spent more time in feeding/foraging activities in the morning with a secondary peak in late afternoon. Dolphins were seen in waters of 2 to 35 m (11.63±6.05; median=12.0). Depths used by S. guianensis groups significantly differed from depths available in GB (Kolmogorov–Smirnov test; Z=5.72; P<0.001). Most groups (69.8%) were sighted in depths between 5.1 and 15.0 m. Dolphins occupied an area of 136.9 km2, which represents about 42% of the entire water surface of GB. Individuals selected areas within GB and avoided the most degraded ones, which suggests that habitat degradation may affect S. guianensis distribution. Diurnal distances travelled by individuals ranged from 3.3 to 27.2 km in a same day. Dolphins found in main channel and adjacent waters moved along the north–south axis of GB throughout the day and covered distances three times greater than dolphins which concentrated their activities in north-eastern areas.

Lough Hyne was Europe's first Marine Nature Reserve and is a well known biodiversity hotspot that supports extensive sponge assemblages. The unusual, but predictable, flow and sedimentation regimes have important impacts on the sponge assemblages at the species and assemblage levels. Here I present a review of recent sponge research at Lough Hyne, which covers: (1) a description of the sponge-dominated habitats; (2) the biological and physical factors controlling sponge biodiversity and abundance; (3) sponge species and assemblage level morphological variability; and (4) the relationship between sponge morphological, species and functional diversity. It appears that physical factors are primarily responsible for the sponge diversity and abundance patterns found in Lough Hyne, although the importance of intra- and interphyletic (particularly with algae) competitive interactions requires further investigation. Although our knowledge of how sponges respond and adapt to environmental variability has increased substantially because of the research conducted at Lough Hyne, I have highlighted a number of future research areas in the context of Lough Hyne sponge assemblages, which are relevant to understanding structuring processes across the globe.

The present study describes the embryonic development and early ontogeny of Amphiprion ocellaris from fertilization to post hatching. Anemonefish spontaneously spawned at 27–28°C. The newly laid eggs were orange in colour and elliptical in shape (1.8×0.8 mm). Melanin appeared as a black mass situated at the vegetal pole in mature eggs. This is rarely seen in eggs of other fish species. We documented developmental times at 27–28°C to egg activation (0.5 h), cleavage (4 h), blastula (11.5 h), gastrula (20 h), neurula (24.5 h), somite (28.5 h), turnover (72 h), blood formation (113 h) and internal ear and jaw formation (144 h). Hatching occurred 152 h after fertilization. On day 4, the eye buds were pigmented and melanophores formed on the ventral surface of the embryo. Internal ear and gill formation were completed on day 5 and coincided with movement of the opercula and pectoral fins. The mouth formed on day 6 and the digestive tract appeared on day 7. By day 10, the yolk was fully absorbed and a substantial amount of food was observed in the gut. Dark and orange pigments were dispersed and aggregated through muscle contractions by day 14, but red pigments did not appear until the fish were three months old. This study contributes to a further understanding of the embryology and the early ontogeny of damselfish and may help improve the culture of coral reef fish.

The mudskipper Boleophthalmus pectinirostris maintained territories in farming ponds during the cold season between November and February. There were two types of territory, one was surrounded by mud-walls, and the other was without mud-walls. Both types of territory were entirely covered by shallow water. The area of walled territories was significantly bigger than that of non-walled ones. The nearest neighbour distance of walled territories was significantly shorter than that of non-walled territories. In January, fish surface activity occurred between 1200 and 1500 hours at which time the territorial water temperature reached a maximum, being significantly higher than that of the air, mud surface or deep burrow. The territorial sediments exhibited a significantly greater benthic microalgal biomass (chlorophyll-a and total chlorophyll-a) as compared to the non-territorial sediments. The present study indicates that B. pectinirostris forms a territory during the cold season to keep a pool of water that encourages diatom growth and enables the fish to engage in surface activity.

Many observers have noted that the sea is full of loud sounds, both ongoing and episodic. Among the many sources of natural ambient noise are wave action, physical processes such as undersea earthquakes, and biological activities of shrimps, fish, dolphins and whales. Despite interest by acoustics experts, sound production by cephalopods has been reported only twice, both involving squid. The ‘faint poppings’ produced were thought to result from fluttering of the thin external lips of the squid's funnel while water is being expelled through it. Otherwise, no information is available on cephalopod sounds. Here we present a noise produced by a stressed common octopus. The event was filmed and recorded in the wild. The hypothesis we offer to explain how this sound was produced is cavitation, which has been documented in several biological systems. In our case, the water expelled through the funnel may have created a jet with a velocity so high that the turbulent pressure dropped locally below the vapour pressure of the water. Seawater contains gas microbubbles, which will grow in size when they are entrained in the region of low pressure. Subsequently, the bubbles collapse violently when pressure rises again. The sound produced by the octopus is like a gunshot, and distinct lights observed at the same time contradict the existence of a simple pressure wave and point to the possible presence of gas-bubbles, which would change the light intensity by reflection and refraction of the sunlight. This behaviour seems to be a defensive strategy to escape from vibration-sensitive predators.

Relatively little is known about spatial turnover of marine benthic taxa in the diverse reef environments of Indonesia and how this is structured by environmental conditions. In the present study the community similarity of sponges was related to environmental and spatial variables. In total, 150 sponge species (N=15,842) were sampled within the Spermonde Archipelago in the Makassar Strait, off south-west Sulawesi. Ordination revealed that sponges are primarily structured by a complex interaction between depth, exposure and on-to-offshore variation in environmental variables. Together, environmental and spatial variables explained 56.9% of the variation in similarity of which 10.9% was due to environmental variables alone, 2.6% due to spatial variables alone and 43.4% due to covariation of environmental and spatial variables. The large amount of variation explained by the spatially structured environmental component is due to a strong on-to-offshore gradient in a number of environmental variables including temperature, velocity, salinity and suspended sediment load. Ordination was also used to identify associations between species and environmental variables.

This paper reviews some specific studies of cetacean life history energetics over the past 20–30 y that include one of the largest species, the baleen fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus, the medium-sized odontocete long-finned pilot whale, Globicephala melas, and one of the smallest marine odontocetes, the harbour porpoise, Phocoena phocoena. Attention is drawn to the decrease in longevity with size and the differences in biological parameters that reflect this and affect life history strategy and energy utilization. Data from the past whaling industry in Iceland for fin whales, the Faroese ‘grindedrap’ for pilot whales, and by-catches as well as some live captive studies for harbour porpoise have been used. The studies demonstrate how information can be gathered to compile energy budgets for individuals, relying on carcase measurement and analysis, dietary investigations, biochemical analyses of tissues, and general life history studies including reproduction; as well as from monitoring living animals. The individual examples presented show how food energy storage in the form of fat can be variously important in insulation in the smallest species to controlling reproductive efficiency in large migratory species. The paper concludes by noting that an understanding of energy use in the individual can be an important input in multi-species ecosystem modelling.

Between April 2002 and April 2005, 210 estuarine dolphin groups were sighted, with 58 animals individually identified. Fifteen dolphins were photo-identified just once, while only two animals were sighted in 15 different months. Some individuals showed long-term residence (more than 3 y). Residence rates showed heterogeneity in the dolphin's permanence of the estuary, with 60% of the individuals with low numbers (<10) and only 7% showing high values for residence (maximum=45.9). Continued resightings of some dolphins support the regular use of the study area by the animals, despite some individuals that, after a long time without resightings were registered again. Individual range analysis showed that dolphins shared the same common area, the Caravelas River Estuary. A marked fluctuation in the number of photo-identified dolphins was observed in the study area, revealed by the high number of individuals with just a few resightings. The majority of the dolphins (60%) present a yearly residence pattern, as observed in other areas, suggesting that a few individuals show high fidelity for the area, while many other dolphins move constantly between different areas for unknown reasons.

The present publication presents oxygen properties and pumping behaviour of Dysidea avara. Oxygen profiles were measured near and inside the atrial space of the osculum with a Clark-type micro-electrode. Pumping sponges had profiles with oxygen concentrations marginally lower than that of the aquarium water. In contrast, diffusive profiles, with a clear boundary layer above the sponge surface, and oxygen penetrating only 0.5 mm into the sponge tissue, were typically that of a sponge which was not pumping. Diffusive oxygen flux at the sponge surface was 4.2 μmol O2 cm2 d1 and the calculated volumetric filtration rate was 0.3 cm3 water cm3 sponge min1. The oxygen concentration in the osculum was temporally fluctuating between 95 and 59% saturation at a frequency of approximately once per minute. The combination of static oxygen micro-electrode measurements and particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) allowed us to simultaneously observe fine-scale oxygen fluxes and oscular flow patterns in active sponges, even at extremely low pumping rates. Oscular oxygen concentration and flow were correlated but not always synchronous to the second. Particle tracking velocimetry was used to visualize the flow field around the sponge and to distinguish sponge-generated flow from the unidirectional current in a flow-cell.

We use a bootstrap simulation framework to evaluate the relative importance of different sources of random and systematic error when estimating diet or food consumption of cetaceans, using a data set on harbour porpoise diet in Scottish (UK) waters from 1992–2003 (N=180) as a model. We also evaluate the consequences of applying explicit weightings to individual samples and/or sub-sets (‘strata’) of samples. In terms of the precision of estimates of diet composition, sampling error was the most important source of error, to the extent that overall 95% confidence limits changed only very slightly when sub-sampling error and regression errors were taken into account. On the other hand, for estimates of total food consumption by the porpoise population in Scottish waters, uncertainties about population size and energetic requirements were more important than uncertainty about diet composition. In relation to the accuracy of estimates of diet composition, the study also highlighted the importance of selecting regressions appropriate to prey in the study area (as opposed to ones constructed for the same prey species in another area) and demonstrated that applying equal weighting to individual samples or sample strata can substantially alter the resulting picture of diet. Therefore, the rationale for applying such weightings needs to be carefully considered.

This article presents biological data and an assessment of the conservation of the olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) population nesting in the States of Sergipe and Bahia, north-eastern Brazil, between 1991/1992 and 2002/2003. Projeto TAMAR-IBAMA (the Brazilian Sea Turtle Conservation Programme) maintains seven field stations in that region to monitor nesting activity over 339 km of beach. An increasing trend was observed in the estimated number of nests per nesting season: from 252 nests in 1991/1992 to 2606 in 2002/2003, an approximately 10-fold increase in 11 years. The available data and biological knowledge suggest that TAMAR's conservation efforts may have contributed to the significant increase in olive ridley nesting in Sergipe and Bahia; that increase is not only of regional importance, but also of significance at the western Atlantic level.