The quality of environmental data and its possible impact on the marine species habitat modelling are often overlooked while the sources for these data are increasing. This study selected sea surface temperature (SST) from two commonly used sources, the NOAA OceanWatch and IRI/LDEO Climate Data Library, and then constructed habitat suitability index model to evaluate the influences of SST from the two sources on the outcomes of Ommastrephes bartramii habitat models for the months of July–October in the Northwest Pacific Ocean during 1996–2012. This study examined the differences in the amount of estimated unfavourable/favourable habitat area when the SST used for model building and inference were the same or different. Dynamics in suitable habitat area calculated from SST was insensitive to the two different SST products. In the fishing season of O.bartramii, the changes of magnitude and trend of monthly suitable habitat area in August and September were similar over time, whereas there were large differences for July and October. Importantly, there is a substantial lack of consistency in the O.bartramii habitat distribution based on SST of two sources. This study considered the sources of environmental data for habitat modelling and then inferred species habitat distribution whether by the same or different data source.

In most fish, reproduction is seasonal or periodic under the suitable conditions. In turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) farms, one of the most economically important marine flatfish species, changes in daylength could cause changes in the spawning time. In this study, to characterize the regulation of reproductive physiology following light signals, three melatonin receptors (Mtnr) investigated in turbot were named smMtnr1, smMtnr2, and smMtnr1c. Distinct expression profiles demonstrated that Mtnr mRNAs were concentrated in the brain (as detected in the hypothalamus (Hy) and mesencephalon (Me)), gonad and eye. The most abundant Mtnr1 and Mtnr2 mRNA expression levels were detected in the central nervous system at the beginning of the breeding season, suggesting that Mtnr1 and Mtnr2 may play vital roles in the regulation of turbot gonadal development. In addition, the melatonin profiles gradually increased and reached to the highest level at the spawning stage, indicating that melatonin is a potent hormone in the regulation of fish oocyte growth and maturation. The results of this study suggested that melatonin is the primary factor that transduces the light signal and regulates the physiological functions of turbot seasonal reproduction. Moreover, the results of this study may establish a foundation for further research seeking to identify fish melatonin receptors involved in the gonadal development and gamete maturation.

The ecosystem of the sea region adjacent to the Antarctic Peninsula is undergoing remarkable physical and biological changes, in the context of global warming. However, understanding of the dynamics of phytoplankton taxonomic composition in this marginal ice zone remains unclear. In this study, seawater samples collected from 36 stations in the northeastern Antarctic Peninsula were analyzed for nutrients and phytoplankton pigments. Combining with CHEMTAX analysis, remote sensing data, and physicochemical measurements, we investigated the relationships between phytoplankton crops, taxonomic composition, and marine environmental drivers. Integrated chlorophyll a (Chl a) concentrations (200 m) varied from 8.9 mg/m² to 64.2 mg/m², with an average of (23.2±12.0) mg/m² and higher phytoplankton biomass concentrated in the coastal region of South Orkney Island and South Shetland Island. Diatoms were the dominant functional group (63%±21%). Higher proportions of diatoms were associated with higher Chl a (r=0.40, p<0.01), stable water columns (r=0.20, p<0.01), higher Si/P ratios (r=0.34, p<0.01), higher photosynthetically active radiation intensity (r=0.64, p<0.01), and higher sea ice melt water contributions (MWC, r=0.20, p<0.01). Conversely, Phaeocystis antarctica contributed a smaller overall proportion (31%±18%) and was more concentrated in the offshore water masses (e.g., Philip Ridge and South Scotia Ridge) with lower light levels (r=−0.58, p<0.01), deeper mixed layer depths (r=0.17, p<0.05), higher nutrient concentrations (e.g., N, P, and Si, r>0.35, p<0.01), and lower MWC (r=−0.20, p<0.01). In comparison, the total contribution from green flagellates (4%±5%), cryptophyta (1%±3%), dinoflagellates (1%±4%), and cyanobacteria (1% ± 5%) was only 6%. In offshore regions with well-mixed water, less varied taxonomic composition and lower crops with a higher proportion of nanophytoplankton were observed. In contrast, significantly decreasing crops below the mixed layer depth was observed in water columns with strong stratification, where the dominant phytoplankter changed from diatoms to P. antarctica. These findings have important implications for better understanding the future dynamics of marine ecosystems in the sea area adjacent to the Antarctic Peninsula.

Coastal zones are active reactors of continental material including that transported by rivers via a series of microbiota-mediated reactions. Nevertheless, current knowledge of the ecology and functioning of the microbiota in coastal areas affected by large riverine inputs remains insufficient on a global scale. Here, an investigation on sediment microbial composition, including taxonomy and metabolic network, as well as their relationship with major benthic reaction substrates, namely carbon, nitrogen, sulphur and phosphorus, was conducted in the continental shelf affected by the spread of the Changjiang River plume. Surface sediment samples (48 samples) were collected during March 2018, obtaining a mean Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) number of 3 341. Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria were abundant phyla in the studied sediments. Bray-Curtis distance analysis classified the 48 samples into 4 clusters (MG1 to MG4) at the phylum-level. MG1 and MG2 are found near the river mouth, receiving substantial land-derived particles from the Changjiang River runoff. Particle-attached microbes may be settled in these regions and influenced the observed sediment microbial diversity and biomass, e.g., increased Crenarchaeota relative abundance. The relative enrichment of these two groups in heterotrophic microbes further suggests a reliance of benthic microbiota on substrates with terrestrial origin, particularly specialized on processing sulphur-rich substrates. Regions MG3 and MG4 are located in the outer margin of the area affected by the Changjiang River plume, mainly fed by settling pelagic particles from phytoplankton. Compared to MG1 and MG2, a significant increase in the abundance of Thaumarcheota (phylum-level) and Nitrosopumilus (genus-level) was found in MG3, suggesting nitrogen-related transformations as the key reactions to sustain microbial metabolism in this region. Coupled with the identified variations in the taxonomic composition, significant differences in the keystone taxa between MG1/MG2 and MG3/MG4 were identified via OTU co-occurrence analyses. A higher abundance of Actinobacteria, Thaumarchaeota and Acidobacteria in MG3 and MG4 reinforced the identified spatial variability in benthic metabolism and highlighted the significance of substrate inputs on the sediment microbial structure and biogeography.

A time series dataset spanning 39 years (1981−2018) on red tide events in Zhejiang coastal waters was used to study the characteristics of inter-annual spatial and temporal variations. A distinct inter-annual pattern characterized by low frequency, explosive growth and fluctuating decline stages was found over the studied time scale. Most red tide events occurred in parallel to the bathymetric contour, and 95.4% were located to the west of the 50 m isobath. Additionally, the high-incidence area of red tides is expanding southward. In this paper, local sea surface temperature (SST), mariculture area and secondary industry growth rate are introduced and identified as the main factors influencing the nutrient and hydrometeorological conditions. A multivariate nonlinear regression equation based on these factors was constructed, and the goodness of fit coefficient was 0.907. The causes of the annual variation and high-frequency area in the southward expansion were quantitatively analyzed based on the proposed regression model. Finally, the results indicated that 68.7% of the annual occurrence variation of red tide was due to the SST and mariculture area, which are the main impact factors; however, secondary industry growth could compensate for the nutrient deficiency caused by the sharp mariculture area reduction and decreased SST. The background nutrient level, which is elevated by coastal economic development, especially secondary industry, is the main determinant of the southward expansion. Although the trend of the southward expansion of high-frequency areas has not changed, the red tide frequency in coastal cities has decreased by half and remained at a stable level after 2010 due to substantial economic restructuring and environmental protection.

Near-inertial motions contribute most of the velocity shear in the upper ocean. In the Bay of Bengal (BoB), the annual-mean energy flux from the wind to near-inertial motions in the mixed layer in 2013 is dominated by tropical cyclone (TC) processes. However, due to the lack of long-term observations of velocity profiles, our knowledge about interior near-inertial waves (NIWs) as well as their shear features is limited. In this study, we quantified the contribution of NIWs to shear by integrating the wavenumber-frequency spectra estimated from velocity profiles in the upper layers (40−440 m) of the southern BoB from April 2013 to May 2014. It is shown that the annual-mean proportion of near-inertial shear out of the total is approximately 50%, and the high contribution is mainly due to the enhancement of the TC processes during which the near-inertial shear accounts for nearly 80% of the total. In the steady monsoon seasons, the near-inertial shear is dominant to or at least comparable with the subinertial shear. The contribution of NIWs to the total shear is lower during the summer monsoon than during the winter monsoon owing to more active mesoscale eddies and higher subinertial shear during the summer monsoon. The Doppler shifting of the M₂ internal tide has little effect on the main results since the proportion of shear from the tidal motions is much lower than that from the near-inertial and subinertial motions.

Seamounts are ubiquitous topographic units in global oceans, and their influences on local oceanic circulation have attracted great attention in physical oceanography; however, previous efforts were less made in paleoclimatology and paleoceanography. The Caiwei Guyot in the Magellan Seamounts of the western Pacific is a typical seamount, and in this study, we investigate a well-dated sediment core by magnetic properties to reveal the relationship between deep-sea sedimentary processes and global climate changes. The principal results are as follows: (1) the dominant magnetic minerals in the sediments are low-coercivity magnetite in pseudo-single domain range, probably including a biogenic contribution; (2) the variabilities of magnetic parameters can be clustered into two sections at ~500 ka, and the differences between the two units are evident in amplitudes and means; (3) changes in the grainsize-dependent magnetic parameters can be well correlated to records of global ice volume and atmospheric CO₂ in the middle Pleistocene. Based on these results, a close linkage was proposed between deep-sea sedimentary processes in the Caiwei Guyot and global climate changes. This linkage likely involves different roles of biogenic magnetite in the sediments between interglacial and glacial intervals, responding to changes in marine productivity and deep-sea circulation and displaying a major change in the Mid-Brunhes climate event. Therefore, we proposed that the sedimentary archives at the bottom of the Caiwei Guyot record some key signals of global climate changes, providing a unique window to observe interactions between various environmental systems on glacial-interglacial timescales.

The systematic discrepancies in both tsunami arrival time and leading negative phase (LNP) were identified for the recent transoceanic tsunami on 16 September 2015 in Illapel, Chile by examining the wave characteristics from the tsunami records at 21 Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami (DART) sites and 29 coastal tide gauge stations. The results revealed systematic travel time delay of as much as 22 min (approximately 1.7% of the total travel time) relative to the simulated long waves from the 2015 Chilean tsunami. The delay discrepancy was found to increase with travel time. It was difficult to identify the LNP from the near-shore observation system due to the strong background noise, but the initial negative phase feature became more obvious as the tsunami propagated away from the source area in the deep ocean. We determined that the LNP for the Chilean tsunami had an average duration of 33 min, which was close to the dominant period of the tsunami source. Most of the amplitude ratios to the first elevation phase were approximately 40%, with the largest equivalent to the first positive phase amplitude. We performed numerical analyses by applying the corrected long wave model, which accounted for the effects of seawater density stratification due to compressibility, self-attraction and loading (SAL) of the earth, and wave dispersion compared with observed tsunami waveforms. We attempted to accurately calculate the arrival time and LNP, and to understand how much of a role the physical mechanism played in the discrepancies for the moderate transoceanic tsunami event. The mainly focus of the study is to quantitatively evaluate the contribution of each secondary physical effect to the systematic discrepancies using the corrected shallow water model. Taking all of these effects into consideration, our results demonstrated good agreement between the observed and simulated waveforms. We can conclude that the corrected shallow water model can reduce the tsunami propagation speed and reproduce the LNP, which is observed for tsunamis that have propagated over long distances frequently. The travel time delay between the observed and corrected simulated waveforms is reduced to <8 min and the amplitude discrepancy between them was also markedly diminished. The incorporated effects amounted to approximately 78% of the travel time delay correction, with seawater density stratification, SAL, and Boussinesq dispersion contributing approximately 39%, 21%, and 18%, respectively. The simulated results showed that the elastic loading and Boussinesq dispersion not only affected travel time but also changed the simulated waveforms for this event. In contrast, the seawater stratification only reduced the tsunami speed, whereas the earth’s elasticity loading was responsible for LNP due to the depression of the seafloor surrounding additional tsunami loading at far-field stations. This study revealed that the traditional shallow water model has inherent defects in estimating tsunami arrival, and the leading negative phase of a tsunami is a typical recognizable feature of a moderately strong transoceanic tsunami. These results also support previous theory and can help to explain the observed discrepancies.

Alentiana has only one member, A. aurantiaca (Verrill, 1885), commensal with sea anemone (Bolocera tuediae). Here, Alentiana palinpoda sp. nov., a second member in the genus Alentiana (subfamily Lepidastheniinae), a new commensal polynoid is described, based on a specimen collected from a deep-water seamount in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. The new species is characterized by large elytra that completely cover the dorsum and are present in every third segment in the posterior regions. Neuropodia are truncated, with two types of neurochaetae; supraacicular chaetae toothed on one side with a slightly inflated end, and subacicular chaetae that are heavy and smooth; the prechaetal lobe is larger than the postchaetal lobe, with the ventral part rolling upward and backward.

A new species of the nereidid annelid, genus Nicon Kinberg, 1866, from KIOST Seamount, Northwest Pacific deep water is described. Nicon is a genus characterized by lacking paragnaths or papillae on the pharynx and composed of nine species worldwide, distributed from shallow water to deep sea. Nicon ablepsia sp. nov. here described is characterized by the lack of eyes on the prostomium, prolonged tentacular cirri reaching to chaetiger 6, notochaetae homogomph spinigers, neurochaetae homogomph spinigers and heterogomph falcigers. Phylogenetic relationships of Nicon remain undetermined based on molecular data. In this study, we constructed molecular Maximum-Likelihood phylogenetic tree from 29 nereidid species based on four marker genes: mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene; nuclear 18S rRNA gene and 28S rRNA gene. Our analysis suggest the Nicon is clustered within Nereidinae, and nereidinae is not recovered as monophyletic. A key to species of Nicon is provided.