Growth of the purple snail Plicopurpura pansa in Baja California Sur, Mexico

 To study the growth of the purple snail Plicopurpura pansa at the northern limit of its distribution, from 1999 to 2001 monthly random samples were obtained from two beaches in the southern part of the Baja California Peninsula (Mexico): one on the Gulf of California and the other on the west coast of the peninsula. Mark and recapture experiments, as well as laboratory rearing were also done. The von Bertalanffy growth equation parameters derived from length frequency data were K = 0.17 and L∞ = 90 mm, and agree with those estimated from the mark and recapture data, but are lower that those reported in the literature for P. pansa from the central and southern Mexican Pacific. Snails maintained under laboratory conditions had low growth rates. These results could be used to implement models for the assessment of purple snail fisheries

Towards commercial aquaponics: a review of systems, designs, scales and nomenclature

Aquaponics is rapidly developing as the need for sustainable food production increases and freshwater and phosphorous reserves shrink. Starting from small-scale operations, aquaponics is at the brink of commercialization, attracting investment. Arising from integrated freshwater aquaculture, a variety of methods and system designs has developed that focus either on fish or plant production. Public interest in aquaponics has increased dramatically in recent years, in line with the trend towards more integrated value chains, greater productivity and less harmful environmental impact compared to other production systems. New business models are opening up, with new customers and markets, and with this expansion comes the potential for confusion, misunderstanding and deception. New stakeholders require guidelines and detail concerning the different system designs and their potentials. We provide a definitive definition of aquaponics, where the majority (> 50%) of nutrients sustaining the optimal plant growth derives from waste originating from feeding aquatic organisms, classify the available integrated aquaculture and aquaponics (open, domestic, demonstration, commercial) systems and designs, distinguish four different scales of production (≤ 50, > 50–≤ 100 m2, > 100–≤ 500 m2, > 500 m2) and present a definite nomenclature for aquaponics and aquaponic farming allowing distinctions between the technologies that are in use. This enables authorities, customers, producers and all other stakeholders to distinguish between the various systems, to better understand their potentials and constraints and to set priorities for business and regulations in order to transition RAS or already integrated aquaculture into commercial aquaponic systems

The Neogastropoda: Evolutionary Innovations of Predatory Marine Snails with Remarkable Pharmacological Potential

The Neogastropoda include many familiar molluscs, such as cone snails (Conidae), purple dye snails (Muricidae), mud snails (Nassariidae), olive snails (Olividae), oyster drills (Muricidae), tulip shells (Fasciolariidae), and whelks (Buccinidae). Due to their amazing predatory specializations, neogastropods are often dominant members of the benthic community at the top of the food chain. In a dazzling display that ranges from boring holes to darting harpoons, neogastropods have developed several prey hunting innovations with specialized compounds pharmaceutical companies could only dream about. It has been hypothesized that evolutionary innovations related to feeding were the main drivers of the rapid neogastropod radiation in the late Cretaceous. The anatomical, behavioral, and biochemical specializations of neogastropod families that are promising targets in drug discovery and development are addressed within an evolutionary framework in this chapter