Larvae of Dactylopsaron dimorphicum (Perciformes: Percophidae) from oceanic islands in the southeast Pacific

Percophids are a family of small marine benthic fishes common over soft bottoms from inshore to the outer slopes in tropical to temperate regions of the Atlantic and in the Indo-West and southeast Pacific (Reader and Neira, 1998; Okiyama, 2000). Five species belonging to four genera have been recorded around the Salas y Gómez Ridge in the southeast Pacific, all of which are endemic to the area except for Chrionema chryseres, a species which also occurs off the Hawaiian Islands and Japan (Parin, 1985, 1990; Parin et al., 1997). Of these five species, larval stages have been described only for Osopsaron karlik and Chrionema pallidum (Belyanina 1989, 1990)

Adaptation of a flocculent Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain to lignocellulosic inhibitors by cell recycle batch fermentation

The ethanol production from lignocellulosic feedstocks is considered a promising strategy to increase global production of biofuels without impacting food supplies. However, some compounds released during the hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials are toxic for the microbial metabolism, causing low ethanol yield and productivity during the fermentation. As an attempt to overcome this problem, the present study evaluated the adaptation of a flocculent strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (NRRL Y-265) to several inhibitory compounds usually found in lignocellulosic hydrolysates (acetic acid, furfural, hydroxymethylfurfural, vanillin, syringaldehyde, and hydroxybenzoic acid), aiming to minimize their negative effects on yeast metabolism, maximizing the ethanol production as a consequence. Cell recycle batch fermentation (CRBF) was performed during 39 consecutive days, using five different fermentation media with sequential increase in the concentration of inhibitory compounds, simulating the composition of lignocellulosic hydrolysates. This strategy allowed obtaining a yeast strain with increased ethanol volumetric productivity and growth rate (10% and 70% respectively, over parent strain) able to produce ethanol with better results when cultivated in glucose-supplemented steam-exploded eucalyptus hydrolysate.This work was funded by CONICYT-MINERGIA, Chile (Programa Pasantias en Extranjero, Convocatoria 2010) and by Innova Chile Project 208-7320 Technological Consortium Bioenercel S.A

Global Phylogeography Suggests Extensive Eucosmopolitanism in Mesopelagic Fishes (Maurolicus: Sternoptychidae)

Fishes in the mesopelagic zone (200–1000 m) have recently been highlighted for potential exploitation. Here we assess global phylogeography in Maurolicus, the Pearlsides, an ecologically important group. We obtained new sequences from mitochondrial COI and nuclear ITS-2 from multiple locations worldwide, representing 10 described species plus an unknown central South Pacific taxon. Phylogenetic analyses identified five geographically distinct groupings, three of which comprise multiple described species. Species delimitation analyses suggest these may represent four species. Maurolicus muelleri and M. australis are potentially a single species, although as no shared haplotypes are found between the two disjunct groups, we suggest maintenance of these as two species. Maurolicus australis is a predominantly southern hemisphere species found in the Pacific, Indian and southern South Atlantic Oceans, comprising five previously allopatric species. M. muelleri (previously two species) is distributed in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. Maurolicus weitzmani (previously two species) inhabits the eastern equatorial Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and western North and South Atlantic. Maurolicus mucronatus is restricted to the Red Sea. No Maurolicus have previously been reported in the central South Pacific but we have identified a distinct lineage from this region, which forms a sister group to Maurolicus from the Red Sea

Sprattus fuegensis, Fuegian Sprat

This coastal, pelagic species is widely distributed in the southwestern Atlantic and southeastern Pacific. It is short-lived and has an estimated generation length of 3-4 years. It is targeted by commercial, artisanal fisheries in the northern part of its range in Chile. Total biomass has declined by about 40% over the past three generation lengths, or since 2006, in the Lakes Region of Chile, and that stock is considered overfished. However, it is not targeted elsewhere in its range at this time, including in the area that contains the largest proportion of its global population. Fishing activity is not expected to be driving global-level declines approaching a Near Threatened or threatened level at this time; therefore, it is listed as Least Concern. However, fishing effort may expand further south where it remains abundant, and this is a concern.Fil: Buratti, C.. Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones y Desarrollo Pesquero; ArgentinaFil: Díaz de Astarloa, Juan Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Hüne, M.. Universidad Austral de Chile; ChileFil: Irigoyen, Alejo Joaquin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Landaeta, M.. Universidad de Valparaíso; ChileFil: Riestra, C.. Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones y Desarrollo Pesquero; ArgentinaFil: Vieira, J. P.. Universidade Federal Do Rio Grande.; BrasilFil: Di Dario, F.. Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro; Brasi

Conventional type-II superconductivity in locally non-centrosymmetric LaRh2_2As2_2 single crystals

We report on the observation of superconductivity in LaRh$_2$As$_2$, which is the analogue without $f$-electrons of the heavy-fermion system with two superconducting phases CeRh$_2$As$_2$. A zero-resistivity transition, a specific-heat jump and a drop in magnetic ac susceptibility consistently point to a superconducting transition at a transition temperature of $T_c = 0.28$\,K. The magnetic field-temperature superconducting phase diagrams determined from field-dependent ac-susceptibility measurements reveal small upper critical fields $\mu_{\mathrm{0}}H_{c2} \approx 12$\,mT for $H\parallel ab$ and $\mu_{\mathrm{0}}H_{c2} \approx 9$\,mT for $H\parallel c$. The observed $H_{c2}$ is larger than the estimated thermodynamic critical field $H_c$ derived from the heat-capacity data, suggesting that LaRh$_2$A$s_2$ is a type-II superconductor with Ginzburg-Landau parameters $\kappa^{ab}_{GL} \approx 1.9$ and $\kappa^{c}_{GL}\approx 2.7$. The microscopic Eliashberg theory indicates superconductivity to be in the weak-coupling regime with an electron-phonon coupling constant $\lambda_{e-ph} \approx 0.4$. Despite a similar $T_c$ and the same crystal structure as the Ce compound, LaRh$_2$As$_2$ displays conventional superconductivity, corroborating the substantial role of the 4$f$ electrons for the extraordinary superconducting state in CeRh$_2$As$_2$.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Field-induced transition within the superconducting state of CeRh2As2

Funding: We acknowledge funding from the Physics of Quantum Materials department and the research group “Physics of Unconventional Metals and Superconductors (PUMAS)” of the Max Planck Society. C.G. and E.H. acknowledge support from the German Science Foundation (DFG) through grant GE 602/4-1 Fermi-NESt. P.M.R.B. was supported by the Marsden Fund Council from Government funding, managed by Royal Society Te Apārangi. R.K. is supported by the DFG through project. no. KU 3287/1-1. D.F.A. was supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering, under award DE-SC0021971.Materials with multiple superconducting phases are rare. Here, we report the discovery of two-phase unconventional superconductivity in CeRh2As2 Using thermodynamic probes, we establish that the superconducting critical field of its high-field phase is as high as 14 tesla, even though the transition temperature is only 0.26 kelvin. Furthermore, a transition between two different superconducting phases is observed in a c axis magnetic field. Local inversion-symmetry breaking at the cerium sites enables Rashba spin-orbit coupling alternating between the cerium sublayers. The staggered Rashba coupling introduces a layer degree of freedom to which the field-induced transition and high critical field seen in experiment are likely related.PostprintPostprintPeer reviewe