Identity of Euprymna berryi Sasaki, 1929 (Cephalopoda : Sepiolidae)

As the results of critical observations on fashion of arm sucker enlargement, morphology of tentacular suckers and bodily and spermatophoric proportions, it was concluded that the genus Euprymna in the Japanese waters contains two sympatric species, E. morsei (Verrill, 1888) and E. berryi Sasaki, 1929

A New Species of Bobtail Squid, Euprymna megaspadicea, from Okinawa, Japan

Euprymna megaspadicea n. sp. collected from Nago Bight, Okinawa Island, Japan, is described. This species is characterized by its small size compared with its congeners, and by having four rows of suckers on all arms, arm II longer than the other arms and a hectocotylized left arm I in males. Modification of the hectocotylus affects almost the whole length of the arm, and is characterized by the fusion of all sucker pedicels giving the arm a peculiar massive, wavy and twisted appearance

Occurrence and living habit of bathyal bobtail squid, Heteroteuthis hawaiiensis (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae) from off the Ogasawara Islands, Japan

A small school of the bobtail squid Heteroteuthis hawaiiensis was observed on the ocean floor at a depth of 912m near the Ogasawara Islands. This is the first report of an observation on the living deep-sea bobtail squid

Abralia similis, a New Enoploteuthid Squid from the Northwest Pacific (Cephalopoda, Oegopsida)

Abralia similis, a new species of Oegopsid squid belonging to the Family Enoploteuthidae is described. This species was collected with midwater trawl of the R/V Kaiyo-Maru from the Northwest Pacific Basin and Shikoku Basin. It is characterized by five subocular photophores with no interposed ones, two small tentacular hooks and dorsal flap, and three offset crests on the hectocotylus

Subgenera of Enoploteuthis, Abralia and Abraliopsis of the squid family Enoploteuthidae (Cephalopoda, Oegopsida)

The subgenera in three genera of oegopsid squid family Enoploteuthidae (Enoploteuthis, Abralia and Abraliopsis) are revised. The genus Enoploteuthis contains two subgenera, Enoploteuthis s. str. and Paraenoploteuthis nov. The former subgeneric arrangement of the genus Abralia is changed. It is divisible into five subgenera, namely, Abralia s. str., Astrabralia, Asteroteuthis, Pygmabralia, and Heterabralia nov. The genus Abraliopsis consists of four subgenera. Abraliopsis s. str., Micrabralia, Boreabraliopsis nov. , and Pfefferiteuthis nov. Relationships among genera and subgenera of the family are discussed

Abraliopsis pacificus, a new species in the squid family Enoploteuthidae from the Northwest Pacific

Abraliopsis (Abraliopsis) pacificus n. sp. is described. This species is characterized by having diffused photophore arrangement on head, developcd carpal flap and aboral keel on tentacular club, unequal offset crests on hectocotylus and rectangular arm sucker ring teeth. It is distributed commonly in the midwater of Northwest Pacific Basin

The first occurrence of Nototodarus (Cephalopoda: Ommastrephidae) from off Chile, Southeast Pacific (Preliminary Report)

During an exploratory fishing on the so-called 167 Seamount located east of Isla San Felix and Isla San Ambrosia, Chile, eight specimens of "unusual" squids were fished in 1983. Six specimens among them were subjected to a routine biological inspection ein board the research ship, but two were brought home for identification. The results of close examination revealed that this squid belongs to the genus Nototodarus Pfeifer, 1912, which has 11ever been known from the East Pacific. The observations on these two specimens are worth reporting. After a search for literatures and comparisons with Nototodarus specimens in hand, we inclined to consider that these specimens are referrable to N. hawaiiensis (Berry, 1913) by the reason discussed in this report

Photocontrolled apoptosis induction using precursor miR-664a and an RNA carrier-conjugated with photosensitizer

Methods to spatially induce apoptosis are useful for cancer therapy. To control the induction of apoptosis, methods using light, such as photochemical internalization (PCI), have been developed. We hypothesized that photoinduced delivery of microRNAs (miRNAs) that regulate apoptosis could spatially induce apoptosis. In this study, we identified pre-miR-664a as a novel apoptosis-inducing miRNA via mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. Further, we demonstrated the utility of photoinduced cytosolic dispersion of RNA (PCDR), which is an intracellular RNA delivery method based on PCI. Indeed, apoptosis is spatially regulated by pre-miR-664a and PCDR. In addition, we found that apoptosis induced by pre-miR-664a delivered by PCDR was more rapid than that by lipofection. These results suggest that pre-miR-664a is a nucleic acid drug candidate for cancer therapy and PCDR and pre-miR-664a-based strategies have potential therapeutic uses for diseases affecting various cell types