Bacteria and hatching percentage of cysts of Artemia franciscana Kellogg, 1906, from four natural populations in Mexico

In this study, cysts of four Mexican populations of Artemia franciscana were analyzed to determine the quality of hatching, and the levels in the nauplii of viable heterotrophic bacteria (VHB) and of bacteria capable of growing in the thiosulfate-citrate-bile salts-saccharose agar (TCBS) medium (TCBSB) were quantified. The hatching percentages fluctuated from 72.8% (Texcoco) to null (Yavaros). The abundance values of the VHB were similar in all the cyst samples, from 107 to 108 CFU mL–1. The TCBSB showed low variability, with values of 106 to 107 CFU mL–1. The largest population in the TCBS medium was represented by gram-positive bacteria, with values of 97.9% out of 96 isolations. Bacteria of the genus Vibrio were not found in the Artemia strains analyzed

Infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) in wild parent stocks of blue shrimp, Penaeus styfirostris (Stimpson), in Guaymas Bay, Sonora, Mexico

 A study was conducted to evaluate the presence of the infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) in wild parent stocks of blue shrimp, Penaeus stylirostris, in Guaymas Bay, Sonora, Mexico. The procedure used to detect the virus was the ShrimpProbe Test Kit Dot Blot, DiagXotic, Inc. Results showed that the virus was present in 49% of the 100 shrimp studied. Males were more infected (54%) than females (44%). Infection in both sexes was more frequent in size classes 36–40 and 31–35 mm. For males, the highest percentages of infections were found in size classes 36–40, 31–35 and 46–50 mm; for females, in size classes 36–40, 31–35 and 41–45 mm (only size classes from 31–35 to 51–55 mm were considered)

40 Years of Weathering of Coastal Oil Residues in the Southern Gulf of Mexico

The oil spill from the Ixtoc 1 well in 1979 in the southern Gulf of Mexico (sGoM) was in many aspects very similar to the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) blowout offshore Louisiana 30 years later (2010), most importantly because of the subsurface nature of the oil release, the amount of oil released, and the extensive environmental distribution of the spilled oil, including coastal impacts. Because of that, the Ixtoc 1 spill can serve as an excellent analog to study and model the long-term oil weathering processes in coastal environments. In 2016, a research expedition sponsored by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) visited many coastal sites in the sGoM, previously known to be impacted by the Ixtoc 1 spill, and collected oil residues. The residues were analyzed using targeted (GC-MS/MS) and non-targeted (FTICR-MS) approaches in order to assess their origin and the nature of weathering transformation products. The initial results suggest multi-decadal preservation potential of Ixtoc 1 spill residues in certain low-energy environments, such as coastal mangrove forests. These results provide valuable input for the modelling of long-term fate and impacts of the DWH spill