Sea cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus (Selenka), is a commercially important marine species in China. Among the differently colored varieties sold in China, white and purple sea cucumbers have the greatest appeal to consumers. Identification of the pigments that may contribute to the formation of different color morphs of sea cucumbers will provide a scientific basis for improving the cultivability of desirable color morphs. In this study, sea cucumbers were divided into four categories according to their body color: white, light green, dark green, and purple. The pigment composition and contents in the four groups were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results show that the pigment contents differed significantly among the white, light-green, dark-green, and purple sea cucumbers, and there were fewer types of pigments in white sea cucumber than in the other color morphs. The only pigments detected in white sea cucumbers were guanine and pteroic acid. Guanine and pteroic acid are structural colors, and they were also detected in light-green, dark-green, and purple sea cucumbers. Every pigment detected, except for pteroic acid, was present at a higher concentration in purple morphs than in the other color morphs. The biological color pigments melanin, astaxanthin, β-carotene, and lutein were detected in light-green, dark-green, and purple sea cucumbers. While progesterone and lycopene, which are also biological color pigments, were not detected in any of the color morphs. Melanin was the major pigment contributing to body color, and its concentration increased with deepening color of the sea cucumber body. Transmission electron microscopy analyses revealed that white sea cucumbers had the fewest epidermal melanocytes in the body wall, and their melanocytes contained fewer melanosomes as well as non-pigmented pre-melanosomes. Sea cucumbers with deeper body colors contained more melanin granules. In the body wall of dark-green and purple sea cucumbers, melanin granules were secreted out of the cell. The results of this study provide evidence for the main factors responsible for differences in coloration among white, light-green, dark-green, and purple sea cucumbers, and also provide the foundation for further research on the formation of body color in sea cucumber, A. japonicus.

The neon flying squid Ommastrephes bartramii is an economically important species in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. The life cycle of O. bartramii is highly susceptible to climatic and oceanic factors. In this study, we have examined the impacts of climate variability and local biophysical environments on the interannual variability of the abundance of the western winter-spring cohort of O. bartramii over the period of 1995–2011. The results showed that the squid had experienced alternant positive and negative Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) over the past 17 years during which five El Niño and eight La Niña events occurred. The catch per unit effort (CPUE) was positively correlated with the PDO index (PDOI) at a one-year time lag. An abnormally warm temperature during the La Niña years over the positive PDO phase provided favorable oceanographic conditions for the habitats of O. bartramii, whereas a lower temperature on the fishing ground during the El Niño years over the negative PDO phase generally corresponded to a low CPUE. The same correlation was also found between CPUE and Chl a concentration anomaly. A possible explanation was proposed that the CPUE was likely related to the climate-induced variability of the large-scale circulation in the Northwest Pacific Ocean: high squid abundance often occurred in a year with a significant northward meander of the Kuroshio Current. The Kuroshio Current advected the warmer and food-rich waters into the fishing ground, and multiple meso-scale eddies arising from current instability enhanced the food retention on the fishing ground, all of which were favorable for the life stage development of the western squid stocks. Our results help better understand the potential process that the climatic and oceanographic factors affect the abundance of the winter-spring cohort of O. bartramii in the Northwest Pacific Ocean.

The present investigation focuses on population structure analysis of the purple sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus across the African Mediterranean coast, with the main aim of assessing the influence of the Siculo-Tunisian Strait on gene flow disruption in this highly dispersive echinoid species. For this purpose, patterns of morphological and genetic variation were assessed among its populations from the western and eastern Mediterranean coasts. A total of 302 specimens from seven Tunisian sites were collected and examined for morphometric variability at twelve morphometric traits. Concordant results, inferred from CDA (canonical discriminant analyses), pairwise NPMANOVA (non parametric multivariate analysis of variance) comparisons and MDS (multidimensional scaling) plot, unveiled significant inter-population differences in the measured traits among the studied populations. Furthermore, the combined use of the one way ANOSIM (analysis of similarities) and the Discriminant/Hotelling analysis allowed unravelling two morphologically differentiated groups assigned to both western and eastern Mediterranean basins. The SIMPER (similarity percentages) routine analysis showed that total dry weight, test diameter and spine length were major contributors to the morphometric separation between locations and between groups. Pattern of phenotypic divergence discerned in P. lividus across the Siculo-Tunisian Strait is interestingly in congruence with that inferred from the genetic investigation of the purple sea urchin populations from the same region based on the analysis of the mtDNA COI (cytochrome oxidase I) gene in 314 specimens from nineteen locations covering a wider geographic transect, streching westward to the Algerian coast and eastward to the Libyan littoral. The specific haplotypic composition characterizing each Mediterranean basin, as inferred from the minimum spanning network, confirmed the geographic partioning of genetic variation, as revealed by F-statistics and AMOVA (analysis of molecular variance) analyses, yielding significant genetic differentiation between eastern and western Mediterranean populations. The newly detected phylogeographic patterns, observed for the first time in P. lividus throughout the explored distribution range, suggest the involvement of different biotic and abiotic processes in shaping such variation, and provide evidence that a large and geographically exhaustive dataset is necessary to unveil phylogeographic structure within widespread marine species, previously cathegorized as panmictic in part of their distribution range.

The marine ecosystem of the Jiaozhou Bay has degraded significantly in fisheries productivity and its ecological roles as spawning and nursery ground for many species of commercial importance has been declining in recent years. A mass-balanced trophic model was developed using Ecopath with Ecosim to evaluate the trophic structure of the Jiaozhou Bay for improving ecosystem management. The model were parameterized based on the fisheries survey data in the Jiaozhou Bay in 2011, including 23 species groups and one detritus group according to their ecological roles. The trophic levels of these ecological groups ranged from 1 (primary producers and detritus) to 4.3 (large demersal fishes). The estimated total system throughput was 12 917.10 t/(km²·a), with 74.59% and 25.41% contribution of the total energy flows from phytoplankton and detritus, respectively. Network analyses showed that the overall transfer efficiency of the ecosystem was 14.4%, and the mean transfer efficiency was 14.5% for grazing food chain and 13.9% for detritus food chain. The system omnivory index (SOI), Finn’s cycled index (FCI) and connectance index (CI) were relatively low in this area while the total primary production/total respiration (TPP/TR) was high, indicating an immature and unstable status of the Jiaozhou Bay ecosystem. Mixed trophic impact analysis revealed that the cultured shellfish had substantial negative impacts on most functional groups. This study contributed to ecosystem-level evaluation and management planning of the Jiaozhou Bay ecosystem.

A fouling study was conducted in coastal waters southwest of the East China Sea between December 2013 and November 2014. A total of 84 species of fouling organisms belonging to 69 genera, 49 families, and 10 phyla were recorded over the entire year. The community composition was dominated by coastal warm-water species belonging to typical subtropical inner bay communities. The prosperous stage of settlement lasted from April to September, and the adhesion strength of the fouling organisms was the highest in summer. Sessile suspension feeders constituted the main core of settlement for the fouling community. Amphibalanus reticulatus was the most dominant and representative species of fouling organism, and other dominant species included Caprella equilibra, Ectopleura crocea, Anthopleura nigrescens, Stylochus ijimai, Spirobranchus kraussii, Crassostrea angulata, Perna viridis, Jassa falcata, Stenothoe valida, Sphaerozius nitidus, and Biflustra grandicella. The individuals in the fouling community showed a mutual dependence or constraint relationship due to competition for settlement space and food, and they exhibited a particular spatiotemporal distribution in accordance with adaptation to environmental factors. Temperature was the most important environmental factor determining the geographic distribution of fouling organisms. The temperature characteristics of species essentially reflect the differences in the fouling community composition in various climate zones. The species number, settlement stage, and settlement rate of fouling organisms are closely related to water temperature. Local natural environmental conditions (salinity, water currents, light, etc.) as well as human activity (such as aquaculture production) are all important factors affecting the settlement of fouling organisms.

Spatial distribution and structure of nematode assemblages in coastal sediments of the southern part of the Caspian Sea were studied in relation to environmental factors. By considering metals, organic matter, Shannon diversity index (H), maturity index (MI) and trophic diversity (ITD), ecological quality status of sediment was also determined. Fifteen nematode species belonging to eleven genera were identified at the sampling sites. Average density of nematode inhabiting in sediment of the studied area was 139.78±98.91 (ind. per 15.20 cm²). According to redundancy analysis (RDA), there was high correlation between metals and some species. Based on biological indicators, the studied area had different environmental quality. Generally, chemical and biological indices showed different results while biological indices displayed similar results in more sites.

An extreme persistent cold anomaly was prevailing in the South China Sea in February 2008. In order to understand the effect of the cold anomaly on zooplankton community, the zooplankton composition, abundance and biomass were analyzed in the northern South China Sea in August 2007 and August 2008. A total of 467 zooplankton species representing 16 groups were identified, with 275 species in August 2007 and 351 in August 2008. Copepods were the most dominant zooplankton group in the study area. Compared with 2007, a dramatic decline was observed in the abundance of four dominant copepod species: Subeucalanus subcrassus, Temora discaudata, Nannocalanus minor and Temora turbinata in 2008. Moreover, zooplankton abundance declined from 133.37 ind./m³ in August 2007 to 75.49 ind./m³ in August 2008. In contrast, the abundance of medusa, such as Diphyes chamissonis, and tunicate, such as Doliolum denticulatum and Dolioletta gegenbauri, increased during the same season. Cluster analysis showed that there was a difference in zooplankton community structure between the two years. These variations in zooplankton communities were indicative of an anomalous oceanographic condition along with the extreme cold event in 2008.

Microwave remote sensing is one of the most useful methods for observing the ocean parameters. The Doppler frequency or interferometric phase of the radar echoes can be used for an ocean surface current speed retrieval, which is widely used in spaceborne and airborne radars. While the effect of the ocean currents and waves is interactional. It is impossible to retrieve the ocean surface current speed from Doppler frequency shift directly. In order to study the relationship between the ocean surface current speed and the Doppler frequency shift, a numerical ocean surface Doppler spectrum model is established and validated with a reference. The input parameters of ocean Doppler spectrum include an ocean wave elevation model, a directional distribution function, and wind speed and direction. The suitable ocean wave elevation spectrum and the directional distribution function are selected by comparing the ocean Doppler spectrum in C band with an empirical geophysical model function (CDOP). What is more, the error sensitivities of ocean surface current speed to the wind speed and direction are analyzed. All these simulations are in Ku band. The simulation results show that the ocean surface current speed error is sensitive to the wind speed and direction errors. With VV polarization, the ocean surface current speed error is about 0.15 m/s when the wind speed error is 2 m/s, and the ocean surface current speed error is smaller than 0.3 m/s when the wind direction error is within 20° in the cross wind direction.

A comprehensive study on the phytoplankton standing stocks, species composition and dominant species in the eutrophic Changjiang (Yangtze River) Estuary (CE) was conducted to reveal the response of phytoplankton assemblage to Changjiang Diluted Water (CDW) and upwelling in the spring. Phytoplankton presented peak standing stocks (13.03 μg/L of chlorophyll a, 984.5×10³ cells/L of phytoplankton abundance) along the surface isohaline of 25. Sixty-six species in 41 genera of Bacillariophyta and 33 species in 19 genera of Pyrrophyta were identified, as well as 5 species in Chlorophyta and Chrysophyta. Karenia mikimotoi was the most dominant species, followed by Prorocentrum dentatum, Paralia sulcata, Pseudo-nitzschia delicatissima and Skeletonema costatum. A bloom of K. mikimotoi was observed in the stratified stations, where the water was characterized by low nitrate, low phosphate, low turbidity, and specific ranges of temperature (18–22 °C) and salinity (27–32). K. mikimotoi and P. dentatum accumulated densely in the upper layers along the isohaline of 25. S. costatum was distributed in the west of the isohaline of 20. Benthonic P. sulcata presented high abundance near the bottom, while spread upward at upwelling stations. CDW resulted in overt gradients of salinity, turbidity and nutritional condition, determining the spatial distribution of phytoplankton species. The restricted upwelling resulted in the upward transport of P. sulcata and exclusion of S. costatum, K. mikimotoi and P. dentatum. The results suggested that CDW and upwelling were of importance in regulating the structure and distribution of phytoplankton assemblage in the CE and the East China Sea.

A better understanding of bacterioplankton community shifts following change in marine environments is critical to predict the marine ecosystem function. In order to get a snapshot of the microbial taxonomy profiling of a wide range marine area, a quick, convenient and low cost method would be favorable. In this study, we developed a 16S rRNA gene-based microarray using ARB software, which contained 447 probes targeting 160 families of marine bacteria. The specificity, sensitivity and quantitative capability of this microarray were assessed by single cloned 16S rRNA genes. The reliability of this microarray was tested by eight environmental samples. The results showed that the microarray was specific, only 1.16% false results were detected in five single-clone hybridization tests. The microarray could detect DNA samples as few as 1 ng/μL and the signal intensity could reflect the relative abundance of the bacteria in the range of 1 ng/μL to 100 ng/μL of DNA concentration. Hybridization with environmental samples showed that it can discriminate bacterioplankton communities by sites and time. High throughput sequencing results from the eight samples confirmed the hybridization results. It indicated that this developed microarray could be used as a convenient tool to monitor the bacterioplankton community in marine environment.