Phylogenetic characterization of two echinoid species of the southeastern Mediterranean, off Egypt

AbstractIn this study we investigated the phylogenetics of two sea urchin species, Arbacia lixula and Paracentrotus lividus from the Mediterranean Sea. Specimens were collected from the east coast of Alexandria City, Egypt. Pigmentation examination showed four sympatric color morphotypes (black, purple, reddish brown, and olive green). Mitochondrial DNA was extracted from specimens and mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) and 16S ribosomal RNA (16S) were sequenced. The results showed that all black specimens constituted the species A. lixula. All other colors belonged to P. lividus, with no apparent differentiation between color morphotypes. Moreover, P. lividus showed high haplotype diversity (COI; H=0.9500 and 16S; H=0.8580) and low values of nucleotide diversity (COI; π=0.0075 and 16S; π=0.0049), indicating a high degree of polymorphism within this species. This study represents the first attempt at DNA barcoding of echinoid species in the southeast Mediterranean off the Egyptian coast, and will provide a base for future phylogenetic analyses

Bacterial Diseases Affecting the Cultured Sepia Officinalis Leading to Increase Mortality Rates in The Laboratory

The early growth, mortality rates and bacterial infections of the cultured Sepia Officinalis were experimentally studied in the laboratory. Two hundred eighty-five sepia larvae were hatched and placed in a 100-liter capacity rectangular glass aquarium (filled with seawater) in the laboratory. The Sepia individuals (285 individuals) were divided into two groups the first fed on a mixture of amphipods, rotifers and artemia and the second group fed only on amphipods to follow their growth and mortality. The second group was observed to grow faster with length 6.76 ± 0.06mm and weight 0.11 ± 0.01gm than the first one. The survival rate was 100% by the end of the first week and decreased gradually by the end of the second week. The recorded mortality rate reached 49% by the day 15th, where they infected with bacterial disease of Vibrio alginolyticus. The clinical signs of the diseased S. Officinalis were lethargic condition, food fasting and multiple skin ulcers with white-gray discoloration were observed and appeared on the body. The main postmortem lesions were congestion of the internal organ, beside the presence of ascetic fluid. The mortality among the diseased Sepia was increased by age; however, it may cause death of most individuals by increasing time more than two weeks. The findings of antibiotic sensitivity test cleared that the isolated V. alginolyticus was sensitive to amoxiclav (amoxicillin-clavulanate), streptomycin, ciprofloxacin and chloramphenicol. Controversially, it was resistant to oxytetracycline, tobramycin, gentamycin and enrofloxacin

Bacterial Diseases Affecting the Cultured Sepia Officinalis Leading to Increase Mortality Rates in The Laboratory

The early growth, mortality rates and bacterial infections of the cultured Sepia Officinalis were experimentally studied in the laboratory. Two hundred eighty five sepia larvae were hatched and placed in a 100 liter capacity rectangular glass aquarium (filled with seawater) in the laboratory. The Sepia individuals (285 individuals) were divided into two groups the first fed on a mixture of amphipods, rotifers and artemia and the second group fed only on amphipods to follow their growth and mortality. The second group was observed to grow faster with length 6.76 ± 0.06mm and weight 0.11 ± 0.01gm than the first one. The survival rate was 100% by the end of the first week and decreased gradually by the end of thesecond week. The recorded mortality rate reached 49% by the day 15th, where they infected with bacterial disease of Vibrio alginolyticus. The clinical signs of the diseased S. Officinalis were lethargic condition, food fasting and multiple skin ulcers with white-gray discoloration were observed and appeared on the body. The main post mortem lesions were congestion of the internal organ, beside the presence of ascetic fluid. The mortality among the diseased Sepia was increased by age; however it may causes death of most individuals by increasing time more than two weeks. The findings of antibiotic sensitivity test cleared that the isolated V. alginolyticus was sensitive to amoxiclav (amoxicillin-clavulanate), streptomycin, ciprofloxacin and chlormphinicol. Controversially, it was resistant to oxytetracycline, tobramycin, gentamycine and enrofloxacin.Keywords: Sepia Officinalis - growth rate - mortality rate - bacterial infection

Early assessment of lung function in coronavirus patients using invariant markers from chest X-rays images

The primary goal of this manuscript is to develop a computer assisted diagnostic (CAD) system to assess pulmonary function and risk of mortality in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The CAD system processes chest X-ray data and provides accurate, objective imaging markers to assist in the determination of patients with a higher risk of death and thus are more likely to require mechanical ventilation and/or more intensive clinical care.To obtain an accurate stochastic model that has the ability to detect the severity of lung infection, we develop a second-order Markov-Gibbs random field (MGRF) invariant under rigid transformation (translation or rotation of the image) as well as scale (i.e., pixel size). The parameters of the MGRF model are learned automatically, given a training set of X-ray images with affected lung regions labeled. An X-ray input to the system undergoes pre-processing to correct for non-uniformity of illumination and to delimit the boundary of the lung, using either a fully-automated segmentation routine or manual delineation provided by the radiologist, prior to the diagnosis. The steps of the proposed methodology are: (i) estimate the Gibbs energy at several different radii to describe the inhomogeneity in lung infection; (ii) compute the cumulative distribution function (CDF) as a new representation to describe the local inhomogeneity in the infected region of lung; and (iii) input the CDFs to a new neural network-based fusion system to determine whether the severity of lung infection is low or high. This approach is tested on 200 clinical X-rays from 200 COVID-19 positive patients, 100 of whom died and 100 who recovered using multiple training/testing processes including leave-one-subject-out (LOSO), tenfold, fourfold, and twofold cross-validation tests. The Gibbs energy for lung pathology was estimated at three concentric rings of increasing radii. The accuracy and Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) of the system steadily improved as the radius increased. The overall CAD system combined the estimated Gibbs energy information from all radii and achieved a sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and DSC of 100%, 97% ± 3%, 98% ± 2%, and 98% ± 2%, respectively, by twofold cross validation. Alternative classification algorithms, including support vector machine, random forest, naive Bayes classifier, K-nearest neighbors, and decision trees all produced inferior results compared to the proposed neural network used in this CAD system. The experiments demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed system as a novel tool to objectively assess disease severity and predict mortality in COVID-19 patients. The proposed tool can assist physicians to determine which patients might require more intensive clinical care, such a mechanical respiratory support

Aspects

The reproductive cycle of the eared horse mussel, Modiolus auriculatus, was followed for one year from February, 2011 to January, 2012 based on 240 individuals collected from Hurghada, north coast of Red Sea, Egypt. The gonadal maturation of M. auriculatus was examined by means of macroscopic and histological preparations of the mantle. Annual cycle with periods of growth, maturity and discharge of gonadic products occurs simultaneously in both sexes. Ripe individuals were observed throughout the year. The largest number of spawning for the individuals occurred from March to June and July for the population. So, it was clear to identify one heavy spawning period for this species. Sexation of M. auriculatus did not differ significantly from 1:1. Sexes were distinguishable in all individuals at the ripe stage with a shell length greater than 3.00 cm. A direct positive correlation was observed between gonad index and water temperature

عن مصايد الجمبري في خليج السويس - مصر

Prawn fisheries in the Gulf of Suez constitute about 13.7% of the total fish and shrimp landings. About 11% are made up by three penaeid species namely: Penaeus japonicus Bate, Penaeus semisulcatus De Han and Penaeus latisulcatus Kishinouy. Metapenaeopsis stridulants Alcock and Trachypenaeus curvirostris Stimpson are two further small species which form only 2.7% of the-total landing of the trawlers in the Gulf. Percentages of the three large species are 47% for P. japonicus, 30% for P. latisulcatus and 23% for P. semisulcatus. The intensive fishing period takes place from October to May, coinciding with the spawning period of P. semisulcatus (October-March). The middle of the Northern half of the Gulf is the richest area for the three forms. The monthly catch weight per unit effort showed a general decline from the beginning of each fishing season to January-February. A slight increase occurred afterwards. This may be due to the new arrivals of P. latisulcatus to the fishery ground. The fishing season 1983-1984 gave a high yield of the large prawns (749 tons) with a fishing effort of 13690 fishing days.يكون الجمبري حوالي 13.7% من محصول الصيد الكلي في خليج السويس وهناك 11% من المصيد من الأنواع الكبيرة بينيس جابونيكس بيت ، بينيس سيمسلكاتس دي هان ، وبينيس لاتيسلكاتس كيشنوي ، والنوعان الصغيران حجماً وهما متيا بنيوبسس ستريديولانتس ألكوك وتراكيبينيس كيرفيروسترس ستمبسون يمثلان 2.7% فقط من المصيد . وتكون النسبة المئوية من الأنواع الكبيرة 47% من بينيس جابونيكس ، 30% ب . لاتيسلكاتس ، 23% ب . سيمسكاتس وتحدث فترة الصيد المكثف من أكتوبر إلى مايو وتقع في نفس الوقت الذي يضع فيه بينيس سميلكاتس بيض ( أكتوبر - مارس ) . يمثل منتصف النصف الشمالي من الخليج أغنى مناطقه بالنسبة للأنواع الرئيسية الثلاثة ، ومن ناحية الوزن حدث هبوط عام في معدل الانتاج لكل وحدة جهد من بداية موسم الصيد وحتى يناير - فبراير ثم زاد قليلاً بعد ذلك وربما كان ذلك لقدوم أفراد جديدة من ب . لاتسلكاتس إلى منطقة الصيد . ولقد أعطى موسم 1983 - 1984 إنتاجاً عالياً من الجمبري الكبير ( 749 طناً ) وذلك بجهد وصل الى 13690 يوم صيد

Abundance, size composition and benthic assemblages of two Mediterranean echinoids off the

This study is concerned with the variability in abundance, size composition and benthic assemblages of two echinoid species, the common sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck, 1816) and black urchin Arbacia lixula (Linnaeus, 1758) in the Southeastern Mediterranean (SEM) along the coast of Alexandria, Egypt. Four seasonal trips were made during the years 2014–2015 covering 55 km of the shore with depths ranging between 3 and 9 m. The sea urchin species composition, density and size structure and distribution were compared. The associated macrobenthic invertebrates with prominent presence and biomass were observed as well as other benthic fauna and flora associations. The present results showed that P. lividus was the dominant echinoid spatially and temporally. A. lixula showed frequent occurrence in Sidi Bishr and Sidi Gaber stations in the spring season. The most dominant size class was the medium to large-sized classes for P. lividus and large-sized classes for A. lixula. The commercial size for the edible P. lividus represented 33% of the sampled population. Furthermore, the most dominant macrobenthic assemblages beside the echinoid population were primarily oysters, sea cucumbers, and mussels. Beside these, assemblage of seaweeds (red, green, brown and crustose algae), Porifera, Cnidaria, Crustacea, other Echinodermata, Bivalvia, Gastropoda, Tunicata, Bryozoa and Annelida were found. The present study shows that the investigated area represents stable habitats for the echinoid population with rich and diversified algal assemblages as well as other potential food resources

Reproductive studies on the carpet clam Paphia textile (Paratapes textilis) (Gmelin 1791) (Family: Veneridae): a guide of aquaculture management along the Egyptian coasts of the Red Sea and Suez Canal

Abstract Background Most aquatic biota's reproductive biology and life cycle are essential to the sustainable management and development of coastal ecosystems and aquaculture. The bivalve Paphia textile (Gmelin 1791), also known as Paratapes textilis, has an economic value in Indo-Pacific waters, including the Red Sea and the Suez Canal lakes, the Egyptian coasts. However, P. textile suffers from extensive fishing and exploitation. Aim The present work aims to study the Paphia textile's reproductive cycle on the Egyptian coasts of the Red Sea for the first time. It helps to manage and develop the coastal ecosystems and aquaculture. Methodology Samples were collected monthly from two saline lakes in the Suez Gulf from December 2019 to November 2020. As part of the comprehensive research study, sex ratio, condition index, sexuality, histological analysis of gonads, shell size, and gonad index were used to investigate the reproductive cycle. Results The results reveal a male-biased sex ratio, possibly due to anthropogenic stressors. The Paphia textile is dioecious. No hermaphrodite cases were observed in the studied specimens. The condition index in winter and spring indicates periods dominated by mature individuals. Five reproductive maturity stages were assigned for both P. textile males and females. Due to the simultaneous development of several developmental stages monthly throughout the sampling year, warm water may be responsible for non-sequential gametogenic cycles. As measured environmental parameters correlate with maturity stages, temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll a play important role in gonad growth. The size at first sexual maturity at which 50% of the Paphia textile population reached maturity ranged from 28.60 to 31.50 mm for females, and between 31.70 and 34.10 mm for males. As the gonad index increases during the ripe stages, this index decreases during the resting, spawning, and spent phases. Conclusions The findings suggest the most suitable temperature for aquaculture spawning is between 20 °C and 30 °C in subtropical waters. Fishing should generally be prohibited at sizes less than 28.60 mm for better management and sustainability of this valuable aquatic resource on the Egyptian coasts of the Red Sea

An attempt to improve the proximate composition of local Artemia strain (Wadi El Natrun, Egypt)

Abstract Background Comparative analysis of essential amino acids and fatty acid of enriched and unenriched Artemia spp. collected from Wadi El Natrun, Elbeheira, Egypt, was investigated. Results The obtained results indicated that Leucine recorded the highest concentration (17.22%, 11.4%) in unenrichment A. tunisiana and A. franciscana, respectively followed by arginine (10.31%, 9.6%); however, glutamic acid recorded the lowest concentration (0.05%) in A. tunisiana. Statistical analysis showed no significant differences in some amino acid concentrations (P < 0.001) in both A. tunisiana and A. franciscana as arginine, valine, proline, and aspartic acid. Other amino acids were highly significantly fluctuated as glycine, leucine, histidine, phenylalanine, glutamic, and tyrosine; they were high in A. franciscana. Aspartic acid was significantly higher in unenrichment nauplii. Regarding the comparison between A. franciscana and enrichment A. tunisiana, the data showed non-significant improvement for the majority of the recorded amino acids. The analysis of unsaturated fatty acids n-3 and n-6 families after 18 and 24 h of enrichment Artemia was achieved. The composition of unsaturated fatty acids was significantly increased after enrichment to 79.7 mg/g DW instead of 46.5 in newly hatched nauplii. Saturated fatty acids were also significantly increased from 20 to 25.28 mg/g DW. The enrichment process was significant (P < 0.001) in nauplii enriched with fatty acids for 18 h. The more pronounced effect of duration was the amount of energy as it was 33.17 kJ/g after 18 h, while it was 45.693 kJ/g after 24 h incubation. The ratio of ascorbic acid, due to Artemia enrichment by vitamin C for 24 h, was increased from 853 to 3227 μg/g dry weight after enrichment. Conclusion To conclude, enrichment with cod liver oil and vitamin C obviously affected the chemical composition of local Egyptian Artemia (A. tunisiana)

Hermaphroditism in Brachidontes pharaonis (Fischer, 1876) (Bivalvia: Mytilidae) from the Alexandria Coast, Egypt

Brachidontes pharaonis (Fischer, 1876) was widely reported to cover completely hard substrates especially rocky shores with higher density in mid-littoral zones forming mytilid beds along Alexandria Coast, Egypt. During our study on the reproductive cycle of this species, one case out of 307 examined specimens was found to be hermaphrodite representing only 0.33% of the total sample. It had a shell length 28.25â¯mm and was collected during January 2017. The sex ratio of this population is different from 1:1, although this deference was not significant (X2â¯=â¯11.118, dfâ¯=â¯11, Pâ¯>â¯0.05). In this contribution, this case of hermaphroditism in B. pharaonis is described. The histological study showed the presence of male and female gametes in the same follicle and this was the most common situation in both lobes of the mantle. The male zone was showing different stages of spermatogenesis together with the female zones showed different stages of oogenesis with occurrence of young oocytes attached to the follicle wall. Keywords: Hermaphroditism, Brachidontes pharaonis, Sex ratio, Histology, Alexandria, Egyp