Mortality of federally endangered fishes induced by artificial breaching of the Santa Clara River lagoon, Ventura County, southern California

Fishes of southern California coastal streams and associated coastal lagoons live with a Mediterranean-style hydrological cycle. Winter rains open the lagoons to the ocean; subsequent dry season low flows and changes in sandy beach dynamics closes them for most of the year. Artificial breaching of barrier sand berms can disrupt fish populations and cause mortality. Such breaches have been rarely observed and then only after some time has passed. An artificial breaching at the mouth of the Santa Clara River, Ventura County, CA coincided with an extreme low tide on 17 September 2010. We observed the mortality of thousands of both native and non-native fishes and invasive frogs; including at least thousands of the federally endangered Tidewater Goby (Eucyclogobius newberryi) and seven smolts of the federally endangered southern Steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Despite the many anthropogenic, faunal, and non-faunally related reasons for breaching, our observations confirm such actions can be detrimental to conservation and recovery of threatened and endangered species as well as to other fauna and flora dependent on such habitats

Expansion of the non-native Mississippi Silverside, Menidia audens (Pisces, Atherinopsidae), into fresh and marine waters of coastal southern California

Abstract--Mississippi Silversides, Menidia audens, were first recorded in southern California reservoirs and nearby outflows in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1997-2000 they were taken in King Harbor, Redondo Beach,and in 2000 in the Santa Ana River. By 2005-2006 they were found in several other coastal drainages from the San Gabriel River in Orange and Los Angeles counties northward to Arroyo Burro, Santa Barbara County. Initial invasion was via the California Aqueduct in the late 1980s and early 1990s and more recently dispersal has taken place along the southern California coast. The records from King Harbor occurred for a relatively short period, mid-1997-mid-2000 (mostly 1997 and 1998) before they were established in coastal drainages. Their impact on native species is not known but on some occasions Mississippi Silversides have outnumbered native Topsmelt, Atherinops affinis, in small coastal lagoons estuaries. Mississippi Silversides are known to prey on eggs and larvae of other fishes and could be increasing predation on small native animals as well as serving as prey for larger piscivores like steelhead and terns.

Long-term qualitative changes in fish populations and aquatic habitat in San Mateo Creek Lagoon, northern San Diego County, southern California, USA.

Observations beginning in 1974 and later surveys of increasing intensity with small seines, traps, and dipnets (1991 to mid-2008) documented patterns of abundance, colonization, and extirpation of 15 species of native and non-native fishes as well as crayfishes, and amphibians in the lagoon at the mouth of San Mateo Creek, northern San Diego County, California. Fish populations varied with Mediterranean climate patterns of stream flow and breaching of the lagoon to the ocean through the barrier sand berm. Two near-record rainfall seasons occurred during this period; the 1997-1998 El Niño due to southern storms and the 2004-2005 winter wet season of more usual storms from the north and northwest. The lagoon stabilized as fresh to brackish in the dry season and for multiple years during successive dry winters. Closed conditions benefitted the native, federally endangered Southern Tidewater Goby, Eucyclogobius n. sp., but were unsuitable for other native estuarine species more common in wetter years. Wet year flows also brought down non-native freshwater species to the lagoon; some thrived and increased predation pressure on the tidewater goby. Historically these exotics were absent and two additional native species were present in the lagoon, Partially Armored Threespine Stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, and the now federally endangered Southern Steelhead, Oncorhynchus mykiss. Restoring and maintaining a full suite of native species will require a combination of 1) habitat maintenance, 2) control or management of non-native species, and 3) reintroduction of some native fishes and amphibians to restore the faunal communities of remaining small coastal estuarine systems

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Hypsocephalus atlanticus, a new genus and species of Lutjanid fish from marine Eocene limestones of northern Florida

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Mortality of Native and Non-native Fishes during Artificial Breaching of Coastal Lagoons in Southern and Central California

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Diagnosis and Distribution of Florida Sand Darter, Ammocrypta bifascia (Teleostei; Percidae), in the Flint River, Georgia

Abstract: In 2013, we observed the presence of an undocumented Ammocrypta species in the lower Flint River, Georgia. The occurrence represents the first record of the genus in Georgia. Subsequent surveys at 24 sites, using seining or snorkeling, documented additional specimens from mainstem sites (n = 3) between Albany and Bainbridge and from Ichawaynochaway Creek (n = 5 sites), a large tributary to the Flint River. We used morphological and genetic data to identify specimens to species. Morphological examination included 23 morphometric and 8 meristic characters from fifteen specimens that were compared to specimens from Williams (1975). For genetic analyses, we targeted the mtDNA cytochrome c oxidase and nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS-2) genes and compared them to specimens from throughout the geographic range of Ammocrypta. Morphological analyses showed broad overlap in measurements and counts with A. bifascia (Florida Sand Darter). The mtDNA data also grouped our specimens with A. bifascia from the Choctawhatchee River, which is the type locality of A. bifascia. While nuclear data was monomorphic when compared to other A. bifascia, the mtDNA of Flint River A. bifascia shared a unique haplotype that was one or more substitutions apart from other A. bifascia haplotypes. Georgia specimens appear to be native, having a haplotype that is different from other A. bifascia and a distribution pattern that corresponds closely to other fishes. We observed A. bifascia from only a handful of scattered localities in the mainstem of the river and the lower portion of its largest tributary. Past surveys may have failed to detect the species due its limited distribution and the difficulty of collecting small benthic fishes in large river habitats