Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Carbonate Deposits In Marine Fish Intestines: A New Source Of Biomineralization, Patrick J. Walsh, Patricia Blackwelder, Kenneth A. Gill, Eva Danulat, Thomas P. Mommsen

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Marine teleostean fish are hypo-osmotic to seawater. As part of a multiorgan osmoregulatory strategy they drink seawater and selectively absorb water and minerals across the intestinal epithelium. Notably, divalent cations (Ca²⁺ and Mg^2-) are left behind. We report here that in the gulf toadfish, Opsanus beta, the ionic by-products of osmoregulation in the intestine contribute to de novo formation of a carbonate mineral, tentatively identified as calcian kutnohorite. Our data suggest that intestinal mineralization is a general feature of osmoregulation in marine teleosts and that this process is an unrecognized and possibly substantial source of marine …

The Role Of Inositol Phosphate Cascade In Visual Excitation Of Invertebrate Microvillar Photoreceptors, Tamara M. Frank, A. Fein

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The identity of the transmitter(s) involved in visual transduction in invertebrate microvillar photoreceptors remains unresolved. In this study, the role of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP₃) was examined in Limulus ventral photoreceptors by studying the effects on the light response of heparin and neomycin, agents that inhibit the production or action of IP₃. Both heparin and neomycin reduce responses to brief flashes of light and the transient component of responses to steps of light, and also inhibit IP₃-induced calcium release, indicating that IP₃ plays a direct role in invertebrate visual excitation. The effects of BAPTA, …

Two New Species Of Netamelita From The Caribbean Sea (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Gammaridea), James Darwin Thomas, J. L. Barnard

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The previously described species of Netamelita from California and the Gulf of Mexico are reviewed and two new species, N. brocha and N. tabaci, are described from the Florida Keys and Belize, respectively. A key to the species of Netamelita is provided. In the Caribbean Sea these species live on fine coralgal muds in forereef environments at depths of 30-40 m in a distinctive amphipod assemblage dominated by the genera Garosyrrhoe and Metaceradocus. The two new species of Netamelita were observed to plough through fine surficial flocculent materials, head downward, with urosomal appendages elevated above the sediment surface.

Photis Trapherus, A New Elephantine Species From The Caribbean Sea (Crustacea: Amphipoda), James Darwin Thomas, J. L. Barnard

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Photis trapherus differs from its Californian counterpart, P. elephantis, in characters of male pereopod 6: the smallness of the posteroventral tooth on article 2, the longer article 4 with separated posterior keel and no significant posteroventrallobe, the relatively thinner article 2; the lack of distal expansion on article 4 of pereopod 7; the distinct concavity and defining tooth on the palms of gnathopods 1-2.

Wombalano Yerang, New Genus And Species Of Corophioid (Crustacea, Amphipoda) From The Great Barrier Reef, Australia, James Darwin Thomas, J. L. Barnard

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Wombalano is characterized by having a interlocked basket of large spines on the bases of male gnathopod 2; these bases arc curved inward to afford the interlocking capability.

This genus differs from Lemboides Stebbing in the even more shortened inner ramus of uropod 3, in the simple mandibular palp, the fused articles of the flagellum on antenna 2, and the immense basket-shovel formed of spines on articl 2 of male gnathopod 2.