Deep sea shrimp fishery off Kerala coast with emphasis on biology and population characteristics of Plesionika quasigrandis Chace 1985

Fish and fishery products are one of the most widely traded food items of world and play a pivotal role in the global food and nutritional security. Fisheries constitute an important sector in many maritime nations, not only as a major food source but also as a generator of foreign exchange earnings and employment. Fish contributes 17% of the global population’s intake of animal protein and provides essential minerals, vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids (FAO, 2014). The fisheries sector is a source of employment for more than 200 million people of worldwide (FAO, 2011). In comparison to the other sectors of the world food production, the fisheries and aquaculture sectors are poorly planned and inadequately funded (USAID, 2011). The capture fisheries sector is one of the fastest growing food sectors in India, in addition to aquaculture. The country also has a significant role in global fisheries as the second largest producer of fish in the world. In India, marine fishery sector is largely constituted by capture fisheries. The present annual production is about 3.78 million tonnes (mt), forming 85.7% of the potential yield of 4.41 mt, the split up being, 2.13 mt of pelagic, 2.07 mt of demersal and 0.22 mt of oceanic resources (DAHDF, 2013; CMFRI, 2014)

Ontogenesi e filogenesi del comportamento sociale del cane domestico (Canis lupus familiaris)

L’intensa selezione artificiale del cane domestico (Canis familiaris) ha portato alla creazione di una straordinaria variabilità fra razze. Nonostante il cane domestico sia uno dei pet più popolari nella società occidentale, vi sono ancora pochi studi che hanno valutato il temperamento del cane con metodi scientifici e stilato dei profili di razza attendibili. Lo scopo di questa tesi è stato di mettere a punto e validare, due test di temperamento finalizzati a misurare e confrontare il grado di socialità di individui appartenenti a razze canine differenti. Il lavoro è stato suddiviso come segue: 1. Messa a punto e validazione di un test di temperamento per cuccioli di 2 mesi di età. 2. Osservazione del comportamento di cuccioli di 2 mesi e confronto fra razze 3. Confronto fra cuccioli di 2 e 4 mesi 4. Messa a punto e validazione di un test di temperamento per cani adulti 5. Osservazione del comportamento dei soggetti e confronto fra razze. Le misure principali che sono state registrate sono: l’interesse ad interagire con una persona estranea e con gli stimoli proposti, il riferimento che i soggetti hanno nel padrone, la durata e l’intensità d’interazione con gli stimoli. Entrambe i test si sono rivelati utili per identificare differenze individuali, e di razza in ciascun gruppo di età. Dal confronto fatto per ciascuna razza, fra i tratti di temperamento emersi dall’osservazione dei cuccioli e da quella degli adulti, è risultato che alcuni tratti del temperamento, caratteristici di razza, emergono già in età precoce e sono quindi probabilmente sotto controllo genetico. Il confronto fra i cuccioli di 2 mesi e di 4 mesi ha permesso di valutare lo sviluppo ontogenetico del comportamento. Data l’alta variabilità esistente all’interno delle razze moderne, sarebbe opportuno in lavori futuri, poter aumentare il campione testando soggetti appartenenti a linee di sangue diverse, per valutare la ripercussione che questa variabilità genetica ha sul temperamento.The intense artificial selection of the domestic dog (Canis familiaris), has leaded to an extraordinary breed variability. Even though the dog is one of the most popular pet in Western society, still little research has been carried out to evaluate dogs’ temperament through scientific and standardized methods, and to obtain valid dog behavioral profiles. The purpose of this work was to create and validate two temperament tests adapt to measure and compare sociability levels of subjects of different breeds. This study was carried out following these steps: 1. Create and validate a temperament test for 2 month-old puppies; 2. Carry out behavioural observations of 2 month-old puppies, and compare breed differencies; 3. Compare the bahaviour of 2 and 4 month-old puppies; 4. Create and validate a temperament test for adult dogs; 5. Carry out behavioural observations of dogs, and compare breed differences; Results were based on: dogs’ interest in interacting with an unfamiliar person and with novel stimuli, dogs’ proneness to interact with the owner, duration and intensity of dogs’ interaction with the stimuli. Both tests were found to be suitable tools to identify individual and breed differences, in both 2 months and adult dogs. From the comparison, within each breed, of 2 months and adult dogs’ behaviour, emerged that specific breed-typical traits appear at an early age, and are therefore under genetic control. The comparison between 2 and 4 month-old puppies allowed the evaluation of the ontogenetic development of behaviour. Since there is a high within-breed variability, future studies should analyse a bigger sample of dogs, testing subjects of different blood-lines, in order to evaluate the effect of this variability on temperament

Blue whale washed ashore at Kuttayi Landing Centre, Malappuram, Kerala

On 27th February 2010, a blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus, measuring 31 feet in total length was washed ashore at Kuttayi Landing Centre in Malappuram District of Kerala

Account on the deepsea shrimp Aristaeopsis edwardsiana (Johnson, 1867) from the Indian EEZ

Aristaeopsis edwardsiana (Johnson,1867) is a deepsea shrimp of the continental slope that has not yet been reported in the targeted deepsea crustacean fishery along the Indian coast. An exploratory survey on-board FORV Sagar Sampada in the Arabian sea at a depth of 950 m off Trivandrum (lat. 8 0 28’ N and long. 76 014’ E) yielded a catch of A. edwardsiana at a high catch per unit effort (CPUE) of 14 kg h-1. The biological aspects of this less known deepsea shrimp species such as length frequency distribution, morphometric relations, sex ratio and the additional sexual dimorphism manifested in the antennal scale of males are reported

First record of the reef lobster Enoplometopus macrodontus Chan and Ng, 2008 from Indian waters

The reef lobster Enoplometopus macrodontus was caught during the deep sea trawl operations off Chavakkad from a depth of 320 m. About ten specimens were landed at the Kalamukku Fishing Harbour, Kochi. The carapace length was 66-75 mm and weight was 79.3-94.2 g. This is the first report of the species in the Indian waters. The species has a smooth carapace with hair on the abdomen, chelipeds and telson. The morphological characters along with colour pattern are describe

New distributional records of deep-sea sharks from Indian waters

This paper reports the first documented record of three deepwater sharks from Indian waters i.e., Hexanchus griseus (Hexanchidae), Deania profundorum (Centrophoridae), pygmy false catshark (undescribed) (Pseudotriakidae) and presents a taxonomic account of smooth lanternshark, Etmopterus pusillus (Etmopteridae) and leafscale gulper shark, Centrophorus squamosus (Centrophoridae), caught by hooks & line units operated in the Arabian Sea, west coast of India and landed at Cochin Fisheries Harbour (Kerala), southwest coast of India

Shrimps of the family Pandalidae (Caridea) from Indian waters, with new distributional record of Plesionika adensameri (Balss, 1914)

Twenty four species of Pandalid shrimps reported from the Indian waters, of which six genera (Chlorotocella, Chlorotocus, Chlorocurtis, Dorodotes, Heterocarpoides and Stylopandalus) are represented by single species each. The genera, Plesionika and Heterocarpus are represented by eleven and seven species respectively. Plesionika adensameri (Balss, 1914) a deep-sea shrimp hitherto unreported from Indian waters is recorded from west coast of India. Information on some biological aspects of few Pandalid shrimps from Indian waters is also reported in the present paper

Quick, accurate, smart: 3D computer vision technology helps assessing confined animals' behaviour

<p>(a) Visual representation of the alignment of two sequences using the Dynamic Time Warping (DTW). The DTW stretches the sequences in time by matching the same point with several points of the compared time series. (b) The Needleman Wunsh (NW) algorithm substitutes the temporal stretch with gap elements (red circles in the table) inserting blank spaces instead of forcefully matching point. The alignment is achieved by arranging the two sequences in this table, the first sequence row-wise (T) and the second column-wise (S). The figure shows a score table for two hypothetical sub-sequences (i, j) and the alignment scores (numbers in cells) for each pair of elements forming the sequence (letters in head row and head column). Arrows show the warping path between the two series and consequently the final alignment. The optimal alignment score is in the bottom-right cell of the table.</p