Lipid and fatty acid contents in red tides from tropical fish ponds of the coastal water of South China Sea

Microplanktonic red tide blooms (dominated by dinoflagellates) were observed in brackish water fish ponds of Terengganu between March 1992 to January 1993. The first short-lived bloom (2-3 days) occurred in October 1992 while the second long-lived bloom (6-7 days) occurred in January 1993. The dominant dinoflagellate species comprised of Peridinium quinquecorne (>90% total cell count) with considerable proportion of Protoperidinium excentricum. Ciliophora consisting of Tintinopsis sp. and Favella sp. were also present during the bloom period. The total ash, chlorophyll, phaeopigment, lipid and fatty acid content of the microplankton were studied. Considerable amounts (6-11% of the total fatty acid) of the polyunsaturated fatty acid 18:3w3 (linolenic acid ) were present in the microplankton. However, high amounts of 20:5w3 (eicosapentanoic acid) and 22:6w3 (docosahexaenoic acid) were present with variable but usually high amounts of 22:4w6 and 22:5w6 acids. The latter microplankton bloom contained higher amounts of 20:5w3 and 22:6w3 acids than the earlier bloom. Lipid content were three to five times higher than chlorophyll a. There was an increase with successive day after bloom outbreak in the relative proportion of total C18, C20, and C22 fatty acid components. The algae microplankton contained the w3-polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) probably needed for the growth and survival rate of grazing pond animals

Seasonal variation of fatty acid content in natural microplankton from the Tumpat Coastal waters of the South China Sea

In the search for better understanding on the nutritional quality of natural tropical plankton, samples were collected from shallow coastal waters facing the South China Sea during the dry monsoon (May-September) and the wet monsoon (November-April) seasons from March 1993 to July 1994. The total fatty acid content of the predominantly phytoplankton communities (25-200 μm sieve nets) varied four to fivefold with the lowest value occurring during the dry monsoon when blue-green became predominant. Saturated fatty acid content (SAFA), polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) and total ω3 (Σω3) showed the same seasonal pattern as the total fatty acid with high values in October to December 1993. When species of the dinoflagellate Peridinium and Ceratium were present in considerable amount, the docosahexaenoic acid DHA content was high, especially from March to May 1993. The maximum content of eicosapentaenoic acid EPA, total ω-3 fatty acid, PUFA and Σω3 in phytoplankton occurred during the pre-monsoon period (October and November 1993) when the diatoms were present in large amounts. The larger fraction sample (> 200 μm sieve nets) which consisted predominantly of zooplankton had high amounts of PUFA from September to November 1993

Food Chain in the Sea-Its Values, Challenges and Prospects.

The planet world had a population of 4 billion in the year 1975, since than its population is ever increasing at a tremendous rate and by the year 2025 it is estimated to reach 8 billion. The land usage on the earth surface is almost exhausted while its arid coverage is ca 43.5% of the earth surface. As such, human being has no alternative but inevitably has to go to the sea which covers > 75% of the earth surface, for food source in the near future

Primary Productivity and Mineral Nutrient Status of some Estuarine and Coastal Waters along the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia during the off Monsoon Period.

A study of the organic and inorganic mineral status, primary productivity and related environmental parameters of some estuarine and coastal waters along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia indicates that the estuarine waters act as nutrient sources for the adjacent coastal waters. The net photosynthetic values at the estuarine stations ranged from 82.0-125.4 and 104.0-257.9 fJ.g C/1/h while that of coastal stations ranged from 42.0-164.5 and 66.0-198.2 fJ.g C/1/h during the high and low tides respectivelv. During the low tides, at both the estuarine and coastal stations, the dissolved organic nitrogen, particulate orgMlic phosphorus and inorganic ammonium nitrogen were present in high concentrations while that of dissolved oxygen, inorganic nitrate nitrogen and nitrite nitrogen were low throughout the study period

Nanoplankton distribution and abundance in the South China Sea, Area III: Waters of Western

A collaborative cruise in the South China Sea in the waters of the South China Sea off the Western Philippines was conducted in the post-monsoon (April and May, 1998) periods on board MV SEAFDEC. The nanoplankton (including the smaller microplanktonic species) from 31 sampling stations consisted of more than 200 taxa comprising predominantly of nanodiatom (>150 species), Prymnesiophyta (>48 species), Dinoflagellata (>30 species) and Prasinophyta (>18 species). Among the minute plankton collected, three species of nanodiatom (Minidiscus comicus, M. chilensis, M. trioculatus) and numerous Prymnesiophyta species were present. The dominant pennate diatom comprised of Synedra parasitica, Fragilaria brevistriate, Diploneis crabro and Neodenticula sp., all of which were 5 L-1 - 5 x 105 L-1) especially in the nearshore waters. The total nanoplankton population (ranging from 3.1 x 105 to 2.47 x 105 L-1) was dense in nearshore regions (especially around Subic and Manila bays) and tend to spread out in concentric semicircle into the open sea. The presence of the dinoflagellate species of Protoperidinium and Alexandrium were detected in considerable amounts at nearshore and midshore Philippines waters of the South China Sea. Blooms of Pyrodinim bahamense and Protoperidinium sp. (to a limited extend) occurred during the study period

A STUDY ON DNA FINGERPRINTING OF AREOLATED GROUPER (Epinephelus areolatus) USING RAPD ANALYSTS

This study reports the application of Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique in establishment of DNA fingerprinting of areolated grouper, Epinephelus areolatus, an economically tmportant fish species of the subfamily Epinephelinae (popularly known as grouper

Importance of fish aggregating devices (FADs) as substrates for food organisms of fish

Various hypothesis have been proposed to explain why floating artificial habitats are successful in attracting fishes. Food may be a stimulus for aggregating some species around Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs). This study attempts to discover if sessile marine organisms which readily encrust traditional FADs, are important food organisms for fish. A new group of FADs was installed in a rich fishing ground. Different parts of the FADs were sampled every 2 weeks for identification of encrusted organisms, and ten species were identified. The density of the organisms fluctuated with time of immersion. Plankton collected from the water at the FAD sites was also identified. Stomach contents of 90 fishes caught around these FADs were analyzed and the organisms found in the stomachs were compared with those on the FADs. This study suggests that the attraction of fishes to FADs is due to mechanisms other than feeding on organisms encrusting the FADs

The "water-specific PPP risk model"

Risk assessment is one of the key success factors of public-private partnerships (PPP) water projects. Factors such as utility condition problems, unsustainable increase in water supply requirements, socio-technical issues and changes in government policies can cause such capital-intensive projects to overrun planned budget and schedule allocations. Where the project is a commercial asset, delayed completion time and cost overruns usually have significant impact on the profitability of the project as well as the estimated returns on investment over the operational phase of the project. Understanding the specific risks involved in PPP water projects can be very crucial in designing containment measures to deal with their likely impact on the projects. Through the combination of review of literature and questionnaires, different risk elements in PPP water projects were first identified. The identified elements were then rated and prioritized using the Analytical Network Process (ANP) to demonstrate the complex interactions among those risks and to establish the most salient Value-for-Money (VFM) variables on PPP water projects. The outcome of this research is an innovative ANP-based model known as the “Water-Specific PPP Risk Model” that offers a platform to incorporate tangible and intangible risk variables into a risk assessment process in water infrastructure projects