Shellfish in Biological News

Shellfish face an uncertain future in a high CO2 world

... Overfishing and disease have decimated shellfish populations in many of the world's temperate ... peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE , May 27. For shellfish and other organisms that have calcium carbonate ... carbonate. Less carbonate in the water means that shellfish have fewer building blocks to generate their ...

Researchers report 'moderately large' potential for red tide outbreak in Gulf of Maine region

... that accumulates in clams, mussels, and other shellfish and can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) in humans who consume them. The ... a major regional bloom in spring 2006 that closed shellfish beds from Canada to Massachusetts Bay. The ...

Marine scientists warn of potential for spring, summer red tide outbreak in Gulf of Maine

... that accumulates in clams, mussels and other shellfish and that can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) in humans who consume them. ... a major regional bloom in spring 2006 that closed shellfish beds from Canada to Massachusetts Bay. Fall ...

Gaps in adhesion

... ( Advanced Materials , October 2008) Some shellfish have a hard life: when they settle at the bottom ... that they are not washed away by the waves, the shellfish use special proteins to attach themselves firmly ... difficult to achieve: adhesion under water. The shellfish can do this thanks to the amino acid ...

In computer models and observations, researchers see potential for significant 'red tide' season

... from WHOI and NC State. The 2005 bloom shut down shellfish beds from the Bay of Fundy to Marthas Vineyard ... $50 million in losses to the Massachusetts shellfish industry alone. The weather patterns over the ... of a potentially troublesome year for algae, shellfish farmers and fishermen might shift the timing of ...

Underwater microscope helps prevent shellfish poisoning along Gulf Coast of Texas

... prevent human consumption of tainted shellfish. shellfish beds in parts of Texas have been closed for a ... okadaic acid, a toxin that accumulates in shellfish tissues and can cause diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) in humans. DSP is not ...

Rising acidity levels could trigger shellfish revenue declines, job losses

... dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions from human industrial activity could cause U.S. shellfish revenues to drop significantly in the next 50 years, according to a new ... environment for marine organisms such as corals, marine plankton, and shellfish that build carbonate shells or skeletons. Mollusks including mussels and ...

Cause of mussel poisoning identified

... severe poisoning in human consumers of mussels after being enriched in the shellfish tissues. The scientific periodical European Journal of Phycology reports ... been known for a long time that consumption of mussels and other bivalve shellfish can cause poisoning in humans, with symptoms ranging from diarrhea, ...

NOAA and NSF commission national study of ocean acidification

... reducing the pH of seawater. With increasing carbon dioxide in seawater, shellfish and corals cannot absorb enough calcium carbonate to build strong ... these species would also have profound effects on entire ecosystems where shellfish and crustaceans provide food for many other species and coral provides ...

Is that sea otter stealing your lunch -- or making it?

... to reduce the numbers of several key species of commercially valuable shellfish dramatically, such as sea urchins and geoducks. Despite of this ... in Boston, which runs from February 14 to 18. While none of these shellfish were major sources of human food before the sea otters disappeared, they ...

Dead clams tell many tales

... shells and live fauna often differ notably in composition and abundance of shellfish species," said Michal Kowalewski, Professor of Geobiology at Virginia ... in paleo-ecology in 2001. That study established the reliability of the shellfish fossil record for analyzing past abundances of species. "Fortunately, ...

MIT unraveling secrets of red tide

... produce the red tide toxin that periodically shuts down U.S. beaches and shellfish beds. In the Aug. 31 cover story of Science, the MIT team describes an ... which cause significant ecological and economic damage. The New England shellfish industry, for example, lost tens of millions of dollars during a 2005 ...

Holding breath for several minutes elevates marker for brain damage

... Japan and some other parts of the world that goes back hundreds of years, although the occupation has been dying out. These divers harvest seaweed, shellfish and other growth from the sea bottom, diving dozens of times per day. Some divers routinely dive to depths of 90 feet on a single breath while others ...

Ozone, nitrogen change the way rising CO2 affects Earth's water

... rivers. Along the way, it accumulates excess nutrients and pollutants before emptying into waterways, where it affects the health of fish, algae, and shellfish and contaminate drinking water and beaches. Excess runoff can also contribute to flooding. Sometimes rising CO2 has the opposite effect, Felzer ...

Troubled waters: Low Apalachicola River flow may hurt gulf fisheries

... environment. The Apalachicola River is considered a "hot spot" of ecological biodiversity, and Apalachicola Bay supports extensive finfish and shellfish communities dependent on the regular flow of freshwater from the river. The river is a source of nutrients that can contribute to the abundance of ...

UNH researcher receives presidential environmental award

... project was one of just six nationwide to receive 2008 Coastal America Partnership Awards. Eelgrass (Zostera marina) provides important habitat to shellfish and finfish, says Short, a research professor of natural resources and marine science. In Ninigret Pond, construction of stone jetties half a century ...

UC Davis begins $2.8 million in studies of agricultural nitrogen's impacts

... areas, where it makes algae numbers spike then crash, drawing oxygen from the water and leading to "dead zones" -- areas that cannot support finfish, shellfish or most other aquatic life. Those environmental impacts are not fully documented, Tomich said. "With this new funding, we can start to fill in ...

Dioxins in food chain linked to breastfeeding ills

... also ingest dioxins and related pollutants from contaminated waters. When humans take in dioxin most often through meat, dairy products, fish and shellfish the toxin settles in fatty tissues; natural elimination takes place very slowly. The typical human exposure is a daily low dose, which has been ...

Who will pick up the bill?

... corals and mollusks which all depend on sufficient carbonate levels to form shells successfully. Subsequent losses of prey such as plankton and shellfish would also alter food webs and intensify competition among predators for nourishment. As harvesting levels drop, job losses are likely to follow. ...

Coral 'can't escape the heat'

... with most of it occurring in the last 50 years, he explains. If seawater acidifies only a few tenths of pH units further many corals, diatoms and shellfish will be unable to form their skeletons and shells, posing the risk of major extinctions and a threat to marine food chains. "It's getting to the ...

NOAA report calls flame retardants concern to US coastal ecosystems

... had the highest overall concentrations of PBDEs, both in sediments and shellfish. Individual sites with the highest PBDE measurements were found in shellfish taken from Anaheim Bay, California and four sites in the Hudson Raritan Estuary. Watersheds that include the Southern California Bight, Puget ...

The Prestige oil spill caused changes in the cell structure of mussels

... Zoology and Animal Cell Biology at the UPV/EHU's Faculty of Science and Technology. In order to undertake the thesis Ms Garmendia visited the Haskin shellfish Research Laboratory, belonging to the Institute of Marine and Coastal Science of Rutgers State University (Port Norris, New Jersey, USA). To ...

When fish farms are built along the coast, where does the waste go?

... growing world population, now supplies, by some estimates, 30 percent of the fish consumed by humans. Two hundred and twenty species of finfish and shellfish are now grown in farms. Intuitively, it seems a good ideathe more fish grown in pens, the fewer need be taken from wild stocks in the sea. But ...

Scientists discover 'hot spot' for toxic HABS off Washington coastline

... site" break off and are transported to nearshore areas, where they can trigger blooms that can ultimately force the closure of Washington state shellfish beds on beaches. The collaborative study, conducted by a team of scientists and students from NOAA's Fisheries Service, San Francisco State ...

'Hot spot' for toxic harmful algal blooms discovered off Washington coast

... break off and are transported to nearshore areas, where they may trigger harmful algal blooms that ultimately force the closure of Washington state shellfish beds along beaches. "Knowing more about these blooms is critical for protecting human and ecosystem health," said David Garrison, director of the ...

Dramatic expansion of dead zones in the oceans

... team at the Danish Center for Earth System Science (DCESS), explains that "such expansion would lead to increased frequency and severity of fish and shellfish mortality events, for example off the west coasts of the continents like off Oregon and Chile". Large extinction events Together with ...

Ocean growing more acidic faster than once thought

... of the study. "Therefore, the increased acidity of the ocean could interfere with many critical ocean processes such as coral reef building or shellfish harvesting." Conducted at Tatoosh Island in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Washington, the study documented that the number of mussels and ...

Brown scientist finds coastal dead zones may benefit some species

... laboratory experiments alone." The quahog is an iconic symbol in Rhode Island and even nationally and is the dominant catch in the Ocean State's shellfish industry. In 2007, the quahog's landed value was $8.4 million, according to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management's Division of ...

Algal biomonitor

... globe. The approach outlined could help reduce the economic impact on fisheries, recreational activities, and aquaculture sites, such as salmon and shellfish farms, and pearl oyster farms. It could also help decrease the outbreaks of food poisoning due to contamination of seafood by the toxins some of ...

Dartmouth workshop sets research agenda for environmental mercury

... example, seafood is one of the few wild foods still consumed by large numbers of people. Though we know that the mercury found in marine fish and shellfish poses a threat to humans not to mention the ecosystem itself we know very little about the physical and geochemical processes that link mercury in ...

Restoring Alabama's coast

... Oyster Reef Breakwater research project. All of the sites will be monitored for a wide range of parameters, including oyster abundance, fish and shellfish abundance, benthic macro-invertebrate abundance, water quality and chemistry, shoreline stabilization and other related parameters. This will ...

Pacific shellfish ready to invade Atlantic

... in the Bering and Chuckchi seas between Alaska and eastern Siberia. At least 77 molluscan lineages, about a third of the species of shallow-water shellfish in the Bering Sea, have the potential to spread to the Atlantic, they concluded. Three factors drove the one-way traffic across the North Pole ...

Researchers find key to saving the world's lakes

... impact on human society is immense he says, as cultural eutrophication severely reduces water quality, which not only kills and contaminates fish, shellfish and other animals, but also can become a health-related problem in humans once it begins to interfere with drinking water treatment. ...

UNH researchers test sediment-scrubbing technology in NH river

... does not score high on the "green glamour" scale. Yet, he points out, everyone is already feeling its impact through regular advisories that close shellfish beds or warn of eating fish contaminated by heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants like PCBs or PAHs. "You can enjoy a great day of ...

New study links fate of personal care products to environmental pollution and human health concerns

... which could represent unhealthy levels for aquatic life, especially the bottom feeders that are important to commercial fishing industries like shellfish and crabs. In the Chesapeake Bay samples, the group noticed a significant drop in TCC levels that corresponded to a technology upgrade in the ...

Crop management strategies key to a healthy Gulf, planet

... Improved management of crops and perennials could go a long way toward alleviating the problem of hypoxia, which claims thousands of fish, shrimp and shellfish in the Gulf of Mexico each spring. An assessment by a team led by Virginia Dale of Oak Ridge National Laboratorys Environmental Sciences Division ...

Scientists show that streams are critical to preservation of oceanic coastal zones

... buffering capacity could be overwhelmed. Nitrogen pollution could generate algal blooms, oxygen depletion (dead zones) and death to coral, fish and shellfish in coastal zones. Grimm believes that the long-term, collaborative nature of the project supporting this study, which has incorporated two ...

Valuing ocean services in the Gulf of Maine -- New approaches for conflict resolution

... fishing is the dominant human influence and where dramatic changes in the structure of the ecosystem have occurred over the past decade. High-value shellfish species like scallops and fish species like herring and mackerel have increased, while the traditional mainstays of the commercial fishery - cod, ...

Global trade in tiger shrimp threatens environment

... A. Bergquist of Uppsala University, Sweden, has studied how policies for sustainable development can go so wrong. The cultivating of fish and shellfish in artificial ponds has increased dramatically in the last few decades, apace with the ever greater depletion of fish stocks in the oceans. ...

UW launches cutting-edge DNA 'fin-printing' project for salmon

... growing fields in fisheries today, Jim Seeb says. Current UW faculty are already leaders in using genetic markers to understand where marine fish and shellfish such as cod, abalone and salmon spend their lives, how they adapt to their environments and handle effects of human activities and environmental ...