Smoked marine fish from Western Region, Ghana: a value chain assessment

The value chain analysis of ths report focused on smoked marine fish- overwhelmingly the most important fish product originating in Western Region, Ghana. Smoked fish from Western Region is mainly destined for the domestic market where demand is very strong. Small quantities of smoked fish are destined for markets in Togo, Benin and Nigeria. The underlying objective of the fisheries value chain analysis is to identify opportunities for growth in the fisheries value chain, with an emphasis on those opportunities that have the potential to generate significant additional livelihoods, particularly at the level of the fishing communities and for low-income groups. The results from the value chain analysis will be used to identify pilot interventions to promote those livelihood outcomes. The main focus for the study is smoked fish (major species/product forms) destined for domestic markets. However, work will also be undertaken on the fresh fish trade and frozen fish to find out more about the significance of these value chains.Cured products, Food fish, Marketing, Processing fishery products, Ghana,

Smoked marine fish from Western Region, Ghana: a value chain assessment

The value chain analysis of ths report focused on smoked marine fish- overwhelmingly the most important fish product originating in Western Region, Ghana. Smoked fish from Western Region is mainly destined for the domestic market where demand is very strong. Small quantities of smoked fish are destined for markets in Togo, Benin and Nigeria. The underlying objective of the fisheries value chain analysis is to identify opportunities for growth in the fisheries value chain, with an emphasis on those opportunities that have the potential to generate significant additional livelihoods, particularly at the level of the fishing communities and for low-income groups. The results from the value chain analysis will be used to identify pilot interventions to promote those livelihood outcomes. The main focus for the study is smoked fish (major species/product forms) destined for domestic markets. However, work will also be undertaken on the fresh fish trade and frozen fish to find out more about the significance of these value chains

Three charged particles in the continuum. Astrophysical examples

We suggest a new adiabatic approach for description of three charged particles in the continuum. This approach is based on the Coulomb-Fourier transformation (CFT) of three body Hamiltonian, which allows to develop a scheme, alternative to Born-Oppenheimer one. The approach appears as an expansion of the kernels of corresponding integral transformations in terms of small mass-ratio parameter. To be specific, the results are presented for the system $ppe$ in the continuum. The wave function of a such system is compared with that one which is used for estimation of the rate for triple reaction $p+p+e\to d+\nu,$ which take place as a step of $pp$-cycle in the center of the Sun. The problem of microscopic screening for this particular reaction is discussed

Population, ecology and genetic characteristics of the Mediterrannean box jellyfish Carybdea Marsupialis in the island of Malta

The main aims of this study were to investigate the environmental parameters associated with blooming events of Carybdea marsupialis and to genetically compare the box jellyfish in Malta to other Mediterranean and Atlantic samples. The numbers of adult individuals, as well as abiotic and biotic factors were monitored in situ and analysed statistically. Phenological patterns were determined and the abundance of C. marsupialis at the Maltese sites was shown to be strongly and positively correlated with sea water temperature. Genetic analysis indicated a high degree of homology between the sequences derived from the analysed Mediterranean specimens, which was not apparent in the genetic material derived from specimens from the Eastern Atlantic (Cadiz).peer-reviewe

Revision of 13 Genera of Haploporidae (Trematoda)

The Haploporidae is a family of digeneans united by the combination of the possession of a hermaphroditic sac and a single testis or, rarely, two tandem testes. The major divisions in the Haploporidae have been based on the organization, development, and nature of the male and female reproductive systems. Overstreet and Curran (2005) has been the only attempt to organize the genera of the Haploporidae in a subfamilial framework. In the present work the validity of the subfamily Waretrematinae by Overstreet and Curran (2005) is assessed by morphological and molecular methods, based on original descriptions, type and vouchered, specimens and newly collected material for morphology and rDNA sequence data analyses. These analyses conflicted with hypotheses and framework by Overstreet and Curran (2005) in that: (1) Megasoleninae is the basal subfamily within the Haploporidae; (2) Waretrematinae and Haploporinae are not sister groups; (3) species of Spiritestis and Capitimitta, both previously considered members of Waretrema, are not closely related; (4) Waretrematinae was not monophyletic when Unisaccus and New Genus 1, new species are included; (5) species of Unisaccoides and Unisaccus species are closely related; and (6) species of Intromugil are allocated to Chalcinotrematinae rather than Waretrematinae. Reports of Waretrema were determined to comprise members of three different genera. The morphology of Intromugil was accessed by the redescription of I. mugilicolus from newly collected material and a new species is described. Species from the Indo-Pacific region possessing spirally arranged pads in the hermaphroditic duct and a caecum were accessed and required changes to the organization and membership of several genera plus changes to the intergeneric relations within the family based on phylogenetic analysis. Members of the genera Platydidymus and Carassotrema were assessed and a new species was described. Two new genera of haploporid were diagnosed, a new species was described for each, and phylogenetic relations are estimated. A new genus and new species of Megaperidae are described, and molecular data were provided for three other species. Previously, megaperid species were members of the Apocreadiidae rather than the Haploporidae. Phylogenetic hypotheses based on Bayesian Inference analysis of an alignment of partial 28S gene sequences of haploporids provide a framework for the evaluation of the interrelationships within the Haploporidae

Review of Haploporid (Trematoda) Genera with Ornate Muscularization in the Region of the Oral Sucker, Including Four New Species and a New Genus

Species of the Haploporidae Nicoll, 1914 with elaborate muscularization of the oral sucker belong in three trematode genera, including three new species and a new genus from the intestine of fishes in Australian waters. Spiritestis Nagaty, 1948 is resurrected and S. herveyensis n. sp. is described from the mullet Moolgarda seheli (Forsskål) collected in Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia; the latter differs from S. arabii Nagaty, 1948 in that the position of the genital pore is pharyngeal rather than post-pharyngeal and the geographical range is off Australia rather than the Red Sea. A new genus is proposed for two new species, with a uniquely ornamented oral sucker, which infect Australian scatophagids. Members of Capitimitta n. g. are distinguished from Waretrema Srivastava, 1937, species of which have a simple oral sucker with six radially arranged anterior muscular lobes, in that their oral sucker is V-shaped with six embedded muscular finger-like structures in the anteroventral portion. The relatively small C. darwinensis n. sp., collected from Selenotoca multifasciata (Richardson) at Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, is distinguished from C. costata n. sp., collected from Scatophagus argus (Linnaeus) in the same locality and S. multifasciata off Brisbane, Australia, and by having smaller eggs, a vitellarium commencing at a level close to the ventral sucker rather than at greater than one ovarian length posterior to the ventral sucker, and shorter tegumental body spines. Sequence data of a c. 2,500 bp region of the 3′ end of 18S, the entire ITS region and the 5′ end of the 28S revealed that Spiritestis and Capitimitta are not as closely related as some morphological features would suggest and are probably not the closest relative of each other. What has been reported as Waretrema piscicolum Srivastava, 1937 probably consists of several species, some in different genera, and one, based on material collected by Dr. Masaaki Machida, is proposed as Spiritestis machidai n. sp. from Crenimugil crenilabis (Forsskål) off Japan. Phylogenetic hypotheses, based on analysis of an alignment of partial 28S sequences with other haploporids, provide a framework for the evaluation of interrelationships within the Haploporidae. These analyses show that: (1) Spiritestis and Capitimitta are supported within the Haploporidae; (2) branches to Forticulcita Overstreet, 1982, Saccocoelioides Szidat, 1954, Spiritestis and Capitimitta create a clade that is sister to haploporines from the Mediterranean Sea; (3) the branch to Saccocoelioides, Spiritestis, and Capitimitta create a polytomy; and (4) the two new species of Capitimitta, plus an immature specimen of an unnamed species, form a monophyletic clade