Food and feeding habits of Megalaspis cordyla (Linnaeus, 1758) along the northwest coast of India

Megalaspis cordyla as one of the shoaling commercially important pelagic fish in the Northwest coast of India. The study on food and feeding habits of this fish revealed that it is predominantly a carnivorous species feeding primarily on sergestied shrimps like Acetes indicus and small fishes such as Stolephorus species. In addition it feeds on juveniles of Trichiurus, Apogon, Coilia, Sardinella, Nemipterus, Thryssa, and sciaenids. The food of M. cordyla also comprises the young ones of molluscs, especially Loligo and Sepia and occasionally ostracods. The choice food is Acetes indicus

Assessment of Saurida tumbil (Bloch) stock in the northwest continental shelf water of India

Based on the data collected from New Ferry Wharf, Sassoon Dock and exploratory survey of MFV Saraswati on the Northwest coast of India, the growth, mortality, population and stock parameters of Saurida tumbil is reported in the present communication. The Von Bertalanffy growth function (GF) parameters for growth on length were found to be L∞=49.8 cm, K=0.96/year, t0 = -.141 year. The length at recruitment (lr) is 80 mm. (tr=.167 year) while the length at first capture (lc) for the commercial trawl fishery is 100 mm (tc=0.25 year). The annual fishing mortality coefficient (F) for 1983-85 was 0.43, the natural mortality coefficient (M) was 1.33 and the exploitation ratio (E) was 0.25. The yield per recruit (Y/R) attained the maximum of 54.99 g at F=1.091 for E=0.45 for the present tc at 0.25 year. The annual total stock (P) and standing stock (P) in the exploitation portion at the inshore grounds to a depth of about 50 m were estimated to be 12,811 tons and 6,034 tons respectively. The average annual yield of 2,635 tons at the present F=0.439 (E=0.247) was less than the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) for 3,331 tons attainable from the inshore grounds at E=0.45

Rates of Sediment Accumulation, Bioturbation and Resuspension in Back Bay, Virginia, a Coastal Lagoon

Back Bay is the northernmost section of the Albemarle-Pamlico lagoon-estuary system. Back Bay lagoon and its associated barrier (Currituck Spit) are moving landward in response to post-glacial sea level rise (2.6 mm yr-1). The long term (100 year time scale) landward migration rate of Currituck Spit may be on the order of a meter per year. Sediment accumulation, resuspension and bioturbation are processes in Back Bay that control the residence time of organic matter in the bay floor. and therefore, effect the rate of nutrient release. As burial proceeds, nutrients in the zone of mixing may be remineralized and recycled back to to water column, or may pass downwards into the zone of permanent burial. X-radiographs indicate that Back Bay sediments are bioturbated by the community of insect larvae, polychaetes and oligochaetes that constitute the benthic infauna of this oligohaline water body. However, analysis of wind records suggests that in some respects, wave resuspension is a more important mixing process. Under mild to moderate conditions, waves in the bay are fetch limited. However, under hurricane conditions the bay surface saturates with breaking waves before peak winds are attained. For a 6 km fetch (a typical long fetch for the Bay), the resuspension threshold is 6 ms-1 (13.5 knots). This value is exceeded 35.7 percent of the time, and sediment is resuspended in about 40 events in a year. Radiogeochemical analyses suggest that long term (100 yr) accumulation rates are of the order of 2-3 mm yr-1. The Bay is floored by mud (silt and clay), with an admixture of sand. Sediment introduction probably occurs largely as a result of \u27wind pumping\u27. During winter storms, strong southerly winds set down southern Back Bay, and drive turbid water from Currituck Sound through the Knotts Island Passage. As the storm progresses, the wind shifts to the north and northwest, sets up lower Back Bay against the Knotts Island Passage, and flushes sediment and water back into Currituck Sound. In this model, Back Bay is a sediment-accumulating sink. The shallow (1-2 m) floor of Back Bay is controlled by an equilibrium between the rate of sediment supply and mean annual wave power. Concentration profiles of 210Pb and 137Cs measured in 1984 indicate that the short term (30 year) accumulation rate was then twice that of sea level rise. The period of record corresponds with Eurasian Milfoil invasion. The historically dense growth of this plant would have modified the equilibrium by damping wave currents, accelerating the sedimentation rate and shifting the Bay floor to a shallower equilibrium depth. The Bay floor appears to presently be undergoing a reduced rate of sedimentation with some local erosion, perhaps in conjunction with a return to an earlier regime

Studies on the probable sources of fungal infection and the control measures in a fish seed farm

The causes of mortality of fry of cultivable fishes in a fish seed farm were investigated. The mortality was due to fungal infection and the pathogen was Saprolegnia sp. The sources of infection were unhygienic breeding hapas, spawnery hapas in the cemented ponds, hatching jars and excess feeding. Application of one kg slaked lime followed by 75g of CuSo sub(4)(l-0.5 p.p.m.) and 150g of KMno sub(4)(2-1 p.p.m.) per each nursery (158m³ water) controlled the pathogen

A study on length-weight relationship, food and feeding habits of Indian scad, Decapterus russelli (Ruppel, 1830) along the northwest coast of India

Length and weight relationship of Decapterus russelli (Ruppell, 1830) is worked out to be W = 0.00312 L³ which indicates the isometric growth of the fish. Study on food and feeding habits revealed that the species is carnivorous, pelagic, feeding primarily on small crustaceans and small fish species, viz. Acetes indicus, ostracods, Apogon sp., Leiognathus sp., sciaenids, Netnipterus japonicas, Myctophid sp., Trichiurus sp., Therapon sp., D.russelli and occasionally on prawns. It is a selective feeder on Aeetes indicus

Fast and Accurate Algorithm for Eye Localization for Gaze Tracking in Low Resolution Images

Iris centre localization in low-resolution visible images is a challenging problem in computer vision community due to noise, shadows, occlusions, pose variations, eye blinks, etc. This paper proposes an efficient method for determining iris centre in low-resolution images in the visible spectrum. Even low-cost consumer-grade webcams can be used for gaze tracking without any additional hardware. A two-stage algorithm is proposed for iris centre localization. The proposed method uses geometrical characteristics of the eye. In the first stage, a fast convolution based approach is used for obtaining the coarse location of iris centre (IC). The IC location is further refined in the second stage using boundary tracing and ellipse fitting. The algorithm has been evaluated in public databases like BioID, Gi4E and is found to outperform the state of the art methods.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, IET Computer Vision, 201

Kappa symmetry, generalized calibrations and spinorial geometry

We extend the spinorial geometry techniques developed for the solution of supergravity Killing spinor equations to the kappa symmetry condition for supersymmetric brane probe configurations in any supergravity background. In particular, we construct the linear systems associated with the kappa symmetry projector of M- and type II branes acting on any Killing spinor. As an example, we show that static supersymmetric M2-brane configurations which admit a Killing spinor representing the SU(5) orbit of $Spin(10,1)$ are generalized almost hermitian calibrations and the embedding map is pseudo-holomorphic. We also present a bound for the Euclidean action of M- and type II branes embedded in a supersymmetric background with non-vanishing fluxes. This leads to an extension of the definition of generalized calibrations which allows for the presence of non-trivial Born-Infeld type of fields in the brane actions.Comment: 9 pages, latex, references added and minor change

Intramural infant burials in the Aegean Bronze Age

This paper reviews the cultural practice of intramural burials for infants in Greece, making reference to parallel practices in Anatolia, the Levant and Egypt. This age-old and widespread custom began with the earliest settled communities in the Near East and continued through the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. Intramural burials in pits, cists and pots are known in Greece throughout the Bronze Age, whereas despite being relatively common on the mainland the practice barely impacted Crete until LMIA, the peak of Minoan trade exchanges with the Levant. In LMIA intramural pithos burials of infants occur, sporadically, at sites in East Crete and later in South Central Crete, while pit burials and a cist burial are known from LMIA at Knossos continuing until LMIII. Intramural burial was practiced for many millennia in different cultural and geographical settings, which may or may not suggest an underlying koine of belief, because given the complexity of human nature and the infinite variety of expression of human culture and beliefs there need not necessarily be a single explanation for this phenomenon at all times and in all places. In Crete, however, the context of some pithos burials seems to convey a funerary symbolism, which articulates the Minoans’ religious belief in rebirth and hope for an afterlife

Effects of packaging on bone marrow discoloration in beef arm, rib, shoulder blade, and thoracic vertebra bones

Meat retailers have reported bone marrow discoloration to be a problem, especially in modified-atmosphere packages (MAP). To evaluate causes of bone marrow discoloration in different beef bones and packaging systems, 36 beef arm bones, ribs, shoulder blades, and thoracic vertebrae from USDA Select and Choice carcasses were obtained from a commercial abattoir, cut into 1-inch-thick sections at 4 days postmortem, and packaged into 1) polyvinyl chloride film (PVC) overwrap; 2) high-oxygen (80% O2, 20% CO2) MAP; or 3) ultra-low-oxygen (70% N2, 30% CO2) MAP. Packages were displayed under continuous fluorescent lighting for 4 days at 35.6°F. Ribs, shoulder blades, and thoracic vertebrae packaged in PVC and high-oxygen MAP developed undesirable gray or black discoloration during display. In ultra-low-oxygen MAP, mean visual-color scores were acceptable throughout display. The a* values (larger values equate to redder color) for ribs, shoulder blades, and thoracic vertebrae decreased (P<0.05) over time. Arm-bone marrow had less oxidation and dramatically less total iron and hemoglobin than did marrow from ribs and thoracic vertebrae. The much larger amounts of iron and hemoglobin in ribs and thoracic vertebrae likely correspond to marrow discoloration. In summary, bone marrow discoloration occurs in ribs, shoulder blades, and thoracic vertebrae packaged in PVC or high-oxygen MAP. Bones packaged in ultralow- oxygen MAP or arm bones packaged in PVC or high-oxygen MAP had minimal oxidation and discoloration

N=31, D=11

We show that eleven-dimensional supergravity backgrounds with thirty one supersymmetries, N=31, admit an additional Killing spinor and so they are locally isometric to maximally supersymmetric ones. This rules out the existence of simply connected eleven-dimensional supergravity preons. We also show that N=15 solutions of type I supergravities are locally isometric to Minkowski spacetime.Comment: 17 page