Seeking the sun in deep, dark places: mesopelagic sightings of ocean sunfishes (Molidae).

Evidence is presented from publicly available remotely operated vehicle (ROV) footage that suggests deep-water ranging in ocean sunfishes (family Molidae) is more common than typically thought, including a new maximum depth recorded for the southern sunfish Mola ramsayi.

POPULATION DYNAMICS OF DROSOPHILA SUZUKII (DIPTERA: DROSOPHILIDAE) IN BELGIUM IN 2013.

The vinegar fly Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) (Diptera Drosophilidae), spotted wing drosophila, is a new invasive fruit pest that recently became established in Europe. Unlike other fruit flies that typically only infest overripe and rotten fruit, D. suzukii females oviposit in ripe fruit leading to considerable economic losses of fruit during production. In 2011 and 2012 D. suzukii was detected at several places in Belgium. In 2013, a large-scale monitoring in frame of the project "FLY ALERT" (FOD) was executed using traps with liquid attractant (apple cider vinegar) at more than 100 locations across Belgium during the whole fruit growing season. At 16 locations we also compared the efficacy of a 'bottle type' trap with a 'cup type' trap. The results show that D. suzukii has expanded its distribution in Belgium. Remarkably, in 2013 as well as in 2012 the first detections were made only in the second part of the growing season (August) and the populations reached their peak only at the very end of the season (November). In the bottle type trap the first flies were caught 2-3 weeks earlier than in the cup type trap. In addition, also the population peaks were on average 1 week earlier when monitored with the bottle trap compared to when monitored with the cup trap. In 2014, after an exceptional mild winter adult D. suzukii flies were continuously detected throughout the winter and early spring. The implications of these findings for the phenology of D. suzukii in the Northwest climate region of Europe are discussed.

Biological efficacy evaluation of mating disruption against the grape berry moth, Lobesia botrana, in grape in glasshouses.

The grape berry moth, Lobesia botrana, is an important pest of grapes. In Belgium, severe losses of production appeared due to the presence of L. botrona in grapes commercially grown in glasshouses. In 2010 mating disruption became a key pest management tactic in Flemish pip fruit orchards after being tested for several years. In other (European) countries, mating disruption is already applied in grapes but there is no registration in Belgium for use in grapes. Searching for an interesting residue free technique for application in small glasshouses, we evaluated the effect of mating disruption for control of L. botrana under protected conditions (glasshouse trials) during three consecutive years (2010-2012). A prerequisite for successful mating disruption is the treatment of large contiguous areas, as the pheromone product will not remain in sufficient quantities on narrow sites and, moreover, a larger portion of the crop remains at risk from migrating mated females. The glasshouses are rather small, however, we hypothesized that these so called border effects are not present due to the secluded spaces of the glasshouses. Pheromone dispensers were deployed and flights of L botrano moths were monitored (pheromone traps/UV-traps) during the whole time period of the trials. In the mating disrupted glasshouses hardly any moth was caught anymore in pheromone traps, in contrast to UV-traps or catches by pheromone traps in comparable non-mating disrupted glasshouse compartments. This indicates the incapability of the males to localize sex pheromone sources, and hence, the inability of finding females for mating. In line with these flight monitoring data, the nearly absence or strongly decreased L. botrana caused damage symptoms in the mating disrupted glasshouses demonstrates the benefits of the mating disruption technique under protected conditions of grape growing in glasshouses.

Raman spectroscopy as a tool to characterize heterogenite (CoO·OH) (Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of Congo).

Natural heterogenite (CoO·OH) samples were studied by Raman microspectroscopy, electronic microprobe and Electronic BackScattered Diffraction (EBSD). Raw samples and polished sections were made from 10 mines covering the Katanga copperbelt (Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of Congo). Four typical Raman responses have been obtained leading to investigate the laser-induced dehydroxylation of heterogenite into a Co-spinel structure. The results are also compared with EBSD patterns from oven heated heterogenite samples. A close relationship was established between the chemical substitutions of Co by mainly Cu, Ni, Mn and Al and their impact on the mineral Raman response.

Longitudinal variation in muscle protein expression and contraction kinetics of largemouth bass axial muscle.

The present study investigates muscle protein expression in largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides through intra- and intermyomeric comparisons of white muscle. Using denaturing SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, muscle protein expression in the arm and cone regions of sequential myomeres was compared for three bass. Low percentage (4.75 %) polyacrylamide-SDS gels and cyanogen bromide (CNBr) peptide mapping revealed no obvious intramyomeric differences between the myosin heavy chains of the arm and cone regions. Electrophoresis of myofibrils and muscle homogenates on higher percentage gels also failed to demonstrate any significant differences between arm and cone regions in either the myosin light chains or any of the major insoluble and soluble contractile proteins. Two differences were discovered intermyomerically: (i) the ratio of two troponin T isoforms changed from head to tail and (ii) caudal muscle had a lower total parvalbumin content than rostral muscle. Since troponin T and parvalbumin have been implicated in the regulation of skeletal muscle kinetics, longitudinal variation in muscle contraction kinetics was predicted. Subsequent experiments revealed that bass rostral white muscle showed faster rates of activation and relaxation than more caudal muscle, as has been observed in white muscle of other fish species. Rostral-caudal variations in white muscle protein composition and contractile properties are predicted to affect patterns of power production during fast, unsteady swimming.

Rostral-caudal variation in troponin T and parvalbumin correlates with differences in relaxation rates of cod axial muscle.

Relaxation rate is an important determinant of axial muscle power production during the oscillatory contractions of undulatory locomotion. Recently, significant differences have been reported in the relaxation rates of rostral versus caudal white muscle fibers of the Atlantic cod Gadus morhua L. The present study investigates the biochemical correlates of this rostral-caudal physiological variation. Using denaturing gel electrophoresis, a series of fresh muscle samples from the dorsal epaxial muscle region was analyzed and several differences were detected. First, a gradual shift occurs in the expression of two troponin T isoforms along the length of the body. Second, rostral muscles were found to contain significantly greater amounts of parvalbumin than caudal muscles. Third, two soluble Ca(2+)-binding proteins, in addition to parvalbumin, were also detected in the rostral muscle samples yet were absent from the caudal samples. This suite of rostral-caudal variations provides a strong biochemical basis for regional differences in the relaxation rates of cod white muscle.

Spatial variation in epaxial muscle activity during prey strike in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides)

Epaxial muscle activity during prey strike was measured in two discrete myomeric regions of the largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides to test whether (1) the extreme dorsal region of the epaxial muscle (the epaxial arm region) plays a larger role in prey strike than the region bordering the main horizontal septum (the epaxial cone region), (2) whether the epaxial arm region is more active anteriorly than posteriorly during prey strike and (3) whether the epaxial arm region activity is correlated with the epaxial cone region activity. Electromyographic recordings (EMGs) of four bass were taken from eight different longitudinal, epaxial muscle sites: five sites in the arm region and three sites in the cone region. Selection of electrode sites was based on epaxial muscle dissections in which a set of previously undefined tendons, neurocranial-epineural-epaxial connector tendons, were described. Every strike had some activity in the arm region, while 48 % of the total number of prey strikes had zero cone activity. Muscle activity was recorded consistently from the first four anterior electrodes in the arm region of each fish, while the posteriormost arm electrodes showed varying degrees of activity. Muscle intensity recorded from the anterior three epaxial arm electrodes was consistently higher than from the two posterior epaxial arm electrodes, while the onset times and durations of EMGs were variable. Most notably, the arm region of the epaxial muscle is capable of being active without the adjoining cone region, thus demonstrating that activity in the epaxial muscle mass can be spatially regionalized in a manner dependent on behavior.