Characterising a potential nearshore nursery ground for the blackchin guitarfish (Glaucostegus cemiculus) in Ma’agan Michael, Israel

The blackchin guitarfish Glaucostegus cemiculus has suffered severe declines and regional extirpation throughout its known distributions. While this species and its relative, the common guitarfish Rhinobatos rhinobatos, have been described in the Mediterranean Sea with co-occurring habitat ranges, no research has recorded the existence or extent of these two separate populations along the Israeli coastal waters. Along a particular coast in Israel, Ma’agan Michael, fishermen have reported annual observations of juvenile guitarfish between June to November for the last forty years. Based on these citizen-based observations the main research objective is to establish whether Ma’agan Michael fulfils all three criteria from the literature by Dr Michelle Heupel, allowing it to be acknowledged as a nursery ground for G. cemiculus. The methodology built for this objective integrates biological characteristics data with the identification of a recurrent seasonal distribution. Visual surveys exhibited a significantly higher abundance in Ma’agan Michael when compared to an adjacent area (Caesarea), with 2,096 recorded observations overall. Additionally, using a species-specific modified Catch and Release protocol, a total of 492 juveniles were captured with a beach seine net. During these capturing events, individuals were morphometrically measured and sampled for future genetic analyses. Out of these, 327 specimens were also fitted for PIT tags to track recaptures in subsequent captures. The highest abundance of neonates was caught from August to September each year (2017–2019), and all individuals captured during this study were identified in the field as G. cemiculus, ranging from 20–35 cm in length (85% of captures). Many specimens had an umbilical cord scar (n = 88), with a large percentage possessing visual remains of the yolk sac. For the first time, this study provides an inter-year description of the species Glaucostegus cemiculus present along the Israeli shoreline

Binding of Superantigen Toxins into the CD28 Homodimer Interface Is Essential for Induction of Cytokine Genes That Mediate Lethal Shock

Bacterial superantigen toxins bind directly to the dimer interface of CD28, the principal co-stimulatory receptor, to induce a lethal cytokine storm, and peptides that prevent this binding can suppress superantigen lethality

Coastal breeding aggregations of threatened stingrays and guitarfish in the Levant

Stingrays and guitarfish are globally threatened by overexploitation, particularly so in the Mediterranean Sea. Nevertheless, very little information is known about their ecology, behavior, and taxonomy in the Mediterranean, especially in the Levant, where water temperature, salinity, and the impact of invasive species are relatively high. This database describes the batoid community within Gador Marine Reserve. Here, surveys have been executed across the years 2016-2018 in shallow coastal habitats using visual surveys and measured species abundances. More information on how this data was collected is available in the following publication: Chaikin, S., Belmaker, J., & Barash, A. (2020). Coastal breeding aggregations of threatened stingrays and guitarfish in the Levant. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 30(6), 1160-1171.  *The species Dasyatis chrysonota was replaced by Dasyatis marmorata according to: Serena, F., Abella, A. J., Bargnesi, F., Barone, M., Colloca, F., Ferretti, F., ... & Moro, S. (2020). Species diversity, taxonomy and distribution of Chondrichthyes in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. The European Zoological Journal, 87(1), 497-536.  </p

Improving deep learning based bluespotted ribbontail ray (Taeniura Lymma) recognition

This paper presents the novel task of bluespotted ribbontail (BR) ray (Taeniura lymma) recognition using deep learning based computer vision methods to enable the identification of specific individuals of this species. Mapping the specific individuals in relation to location and time will allow marine researchers to understand their movement patterns, habitat choice, life span, size of the population and more – data which could allow monitoring and establishing a tailor-made conservation plan for this species.Our work is pioneer on this recognition problem. We give a detailed description of the three basic steps of detection, feature extraction and recognition in this vision problem and perform experiments to explore the system configuration and what improves the performance. A feature extraction enhancement as well as a crucial effect of a split into different main poses are demonstrated. Though the precision results achieved in this paper are still moderate and should be further improved, they are nevertheless promising and reasonable for practical use if the six best matches are chosen. For this scenario, almost 85% precision for upper-pose model, and almost 80% precision for left- and right-pose models, are achieved demonstrating the feasibility of the pipeline suggested as well as opportunities for improvement

Prvi popis hrskavičnjača Crne Gore temeljen na kombinaciji monitoringa gospodarskog ribolova i građanske znanosti

Chondrichthyans are considered a highly threatened marine species, due both to the intense fishing pressure they have experienced in the world’s Oceans over several decades, and other threats, such as habitat loss, climate change and marine pollution. A rapid decline in their populations could trigger significant negative changes in marine ecosystems, highlighting the need for improved conservation measures. This study analyzes the current state of this group in the waters of Montenegro (in the southeastern Adriatic Sea). The first national checklist is provided here, comprising of 44 species, with information on their occurrence frequencies in Montenegrin fishery catches. The dataset used consists of 1469 records obtained from 281 field samplings conducted as part of the official monitoring of commercial fisheries (DCF-DCRF) as well as 1222 records derived from citizen science. The latter contributed significantly in documenting a greater number of species, particularly those considered threatened or rare in the region, and/or overlooked by DCF-DCRF monitoring. The frequency of species in Montenegrin catches is described based on the percentage of their records in the total number of records originating from local fisheries. The obtained results indicate that only 16% of the species recorded in Montenegro are commonly present in country’s catches, while 66% are either rare or not observed in local fishery. The creation of the country’s first checklist might contribute to overcoming drawbacks in national legislation and protection measures, notably by reporting the presence of endangered species in national marine waters.Hrskavičnjače se smatraju visoko ugroženim morskim vrstama zbog jakog ribolovnog pritiska kojem su izložene tijekom više desetljeća u svjetskim morima i oceanima, ali i zbog drugih negativnih utjecaja, poput gubitka staništa, klimatskih promjena i zagađenja mora. Ubrzano smanjenje njihovih populacija može pokrenuti negativne promjene u morskim ekosustavima, što dodatno naglašava potrebu za unaprjeđenjem mjera zaštite. Ovo istraživanje prikazuje analizu trenutnog stanja ove skupine organizama u crnogorskim vodama (jugoistočni Jadran). U radu je prikazan prvi popis hrskavičnjača, koji uključuje 44 vrste, s pojedinostima o učestalosti pojavljivanja u crnogorskim ulovima. Podaci se sastoje od 1469 zabilježenih nalaza u 281 terenskom istraživanju provedenom u okviru monitoringa gospodarskog ribolova (DCF-DCRF), kao i 1222 prijavljena nalaza prikupljena kroz „građansku znanost“ (citizen science). Građanska znanost značajno je doprinijela povećanju broja zabilježenih vrsta, posebice onih koje se smatraju ugroženim ili rijetkim u regiji i koje nisu zabilježene u DCF-DCRF monitoringu. Učestalost vrsta u crnogorskim ulovima prikazana je kao udio broja njihovih nalaza u ukupnom broju nalaza hrskavičnjača u lokalnom ribolovu. Dobiveni rezultati ukazuju da je tek 16% zabilježenih vrsta uobičajeno prisutno u ulovima u Crnoj Gori, dok je 66% ili rijetko u lovinama ili potpuno odsutno. Izrada prvog nacionalnog popisa hrskavičnjača može doprinijeti rješavanju nedostataka u nacionalnom zakonodavstvu i mjerama zaštite, posebice kroz zabilježene nalaze ugroženih vrsta u nacionalnim vodama

Depth Partitioning and Diel Movement of Two Large Carcharhinid Sharks in Extremely Shallow Waters

Two species of carcharhinid sharks aggregate every winter at the warm water effluent of a coastal power plant on the Israeli Mediterranean coast. The two species (Carcharhinus obscurus and Carcharhinus plumbeus) cooccur in a highly confined area for several months every year and are highly associated with the area in and around the hot water effluent. Niche partitioning has recently been suggested as a mechanism that enables the coexistence of similar shark species by resource partitioning, spatial partitioning, and temporal partitioning. In this study, we used acoustic telemetry to study the individual diel movement and activity patterns within this enclosed area and examined the differences between the two species sharing it. Although this location only reaches a maximum depth of 7.5 m, we found both species perform a diel vertical movement, rising closer to the surface at night and moving deeper during daytime. Furthermore, the two shark species swam at different depths both day and night, with C. obscurus swimming in the upper column, about 2 m shallower than C. plumbeus. The very small scale of movement, which nearly equals the sharks&rsquo; body length, suggests movement patterns might be conserved at the species level. Moreover, spatiotemporal differences between the two species may reflect a mean of interspecific partitioning that occurs even in a highly confined and shallow habitat

Machine Learning Model for Outcome Prediction of Patients Suffering from Acute Diverticulitis Arriving at the Emergency Department&mdash;A Proof of Concept Study

Background &amp; Aims: We aimed at identifying specific emergency department (ED) risk factors for developing complicated acute diverticulitis (AD) and evaluate a machine learning model (ML) for predicting complicated AD. Methods: We analyzed data retrieved from unselected consecutive large bowel AD patients from five hospitals from the Mount Sinai health system, NY. The study time frame was from January 2011 through March 2021. Data were used to train and evaluate a gradient-boosting machine learning model to identify patients with complicated diverticulitis, defined as a need for invasive intervention or in-hospital mortality. The model was trained and evaluated on data from four hospitals and externally validated on held-out data from the fifth hospital. Results: The final cohort included 4997 AD visits. Of them, 129 (2.9%) visits had complicated diverticulitis. Patients with complicated diverticulitis were more likely to be men, black, and arrive by ambulance. Regarding laboratory values, patients with complicated diverticulitis had higher levels of absolute neutrophils (AUC 0.73), higher white blood cells (AUC 0.70), platelet count (AUC 0.68) and lactate (AUC 0.61), and lower levels of albumin (AUC 0.69), chloride (AUC 0.64), and sodium (AUC 0.61). In the external validation cohort, the ML model showed AUC 0.85 (95% CI 0.78&ndash;0.91) for predicting complicated diverticulitis. For Youden&rsquo;s index, the model showed a sensitivity of 88% with a false positive rate of 1:3.6. Conclusions: A ML model trained on clinical measures provides a proof of concept performance in predicting complications in patients presenting to the ED with AD. Clinically, it implies that a ML model may classify low-risk patients to be discharged from the ED for further treatment under an ambulatory setting

Depth Partitioning and Diel Movement of Two Large Carcharhinid Sharks in Extremely Shallow Waters

Two species of carcharhinid sharks aggregate every winter at the warm water effluent of a coastal power plant on the Israeli Mediterranean coast. The two species (Carcharhinus obscurus and Carcharhinus plumbeus) cooccur in a highly confined area for several months every year and are highly associated with the area in and around the hot water effluent. Niche partitioning has recently been suggested as a mechanism that enables the coexistence of similar shark species by resource partitioning, spatial partitioning, and temporal partitioning. In this study, we used acoustic telemetry to study the individual diel movement and activity patterns within this enclosed area and examined the differences between the two species sharing it. Although this location only reaches a maximum depth of 7.5 m, we found both species perform a diel vertical movement, rising closer to the surface at night and moving deeper during daytime. Furthermore, the two shark species swam at different depths both day and night, with C. obscurus swimming in the upper column, about 2 m shallower than C. plumbeus. The very small scale of movement, which nearly equals the sharks’ body length, suggests movement patterns might be conserved at the species level. Moreover, spatiotemporal differences between the two species may reflect a mean of interspecific partitioning that occurs even in a highly confined and shallow habitat

The Wnt/β‐catenin pathway determines the predisposition and efficiency of liver‐to‐pancreas reprogramming

International audienc