Bathynomus paracelensis sp. nov., a medium-sized supergiant Bathynomus, is described from specimens obtained at Zhengbin fishing port in Keelung, Taiwan and had been caught in the water near Paracel Islands, South China Sea. Due to its similar shape to B. jamesi, this species has often been mistaken for juveniles or immatures of B. jamesi by fishermen working in this area. Species of Bathynomus can be distinguished morphologically and genetically. The differences from B. jamesi are in the shorter body, clypeus shape, uropod endopod and gene sequence. The difference from B. vaderi is in the body shape, clypeus shape, hook number of maxilliped endite and spines number of maxilulla. Based on the morphological and genetic data results, the specimen is a hitherto undescribed species. The samples were collected as a bycatch species in the deep-sea bottom trawl fishery. The distribution area and depth of this new species and population size are still unclear.B. paracelensis sp. nov. is the third supergiant Bathynomus discovered in the South China Sea after B. jamesi and B. vaderi. Its remarkable feature is its short body length and sub-parallel shape. In addition, it is different from B. jamesi and B. vaderi in features such as clypeus shape, number of maxillula keratinised spine and pleotelson spine almost straight. Phylogenetic and barcoding gap analyses confirm that B. paracelensis sp. nov. is not the same species as B. jamsei. Many morphological differences also indicate that it should be a different species from B. vaderi. B. paracelensis sp. nov. may be an intermediate species between giant and supergiant, possessing characteristics of both categories, which can increase researchers' understanding of Bathynomus biodiversity.
DNA was extracted from tissue samples from specimens of newly-collected Bathynomus kensleyi from Queensland and subsequently the COI and 16S rRNA sequences were successfully cloned. The holotype of B. kensleyi was also sampled for COI only. Comparison of the sequences showed that, for the COI sequences, B. jamesi and B. kensleyi have more than 59 different DNA positions amongst 596 known reading sequences. The Kimura two parameter (K2P) distance analysis confirmed that B. jamesi and B. kensleyi are two species. Indian records of Bathynomus are reviewed and three of the four identified species from India are shown to be misidentifications. Bathynomus decemspinosus, B. doederlini and B. kensleyi are found to not occur in India and the only accepted record is that of Bathynomus keablei Lowry & Dempsey, 2006. We conclude that, based on molecular analysis and morphological comparisons, the correct species identity of Indian species other than Bathynomus keablei remains unknown.
A female tuna of odd appearance, with the size of a Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis Temminck and Schlegel, 1844), anal fin count of bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus Lowe, 1839), pectoral fins of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares Bonnaterre, 1788), caught in waters west of the island of Xiaoliuqiu, Pingtung, Taiwan, received considerable media attention after its landing at Tungkang fishing port on 14 December 2020. This tuna has now been identified by molecular systematic means. Fishermen and fish merchants suggested it was a hybrid form, unique in living memory; however, it had matured ovaries and developing ova. To confirm whether this fish was a hybrid, we determined its parental species by analysing the cytochrome b gene (cyt b) and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) sequences of the mitochondrial DNA for maternal inheritance, and the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) gene sequence from the nuclear DNA to confirm both parents’ lineages. Genomic DNA was isolated from fast-skeletal muscle, and primers were designed based on the known sequences of conserved regions among tunas. According to cyt b and COI, the mother of the peculiar tuna was a Pacific bluefin tuna (T. orientalis), and the ITS1 sequence showed that both parents were of this species. We therefore conclude that despite the mixed morphological appearance, this abnormal tuna was a Pacific bluefin tuna, not a hybrid.
Bathynomus jamesi Kou, Chen and Li, 2017 from Zhengbin fishing port in Keelung, Taiwan, was identified by the shape of the distolateral corner of the uropodal endopod, the shape of the clypeus, and the nucleotide sequences of the COI (cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1) and 16S rRNA genes. Only two species of Bathynomus have previously been recorded from Taiwan, B. doederleini Ortmann, 1894 and B. decemspinosus Shih, 1972. Bathynomus kensleyi, previously known from the South China Sea as well as the south-east Swain Reefs, Coral Sea, was primarily differentiated by the elongate and upturned pleotelson spines, but that character is now shown to also occur in mature Bathynomus jamesi. Two specimens from the Gulf of Mexico (obtained from the Enoshima Aquarium in Japan) were compared to species of Bathynomus from the western North Atlantic. Sequence data showed that one of two samples was not B. giganteus Milne-Edwards, 1879, as had been assumed, and it did not match any other species of Bathynomus. That specimen was collected off the Yucatan Peninsula and is morphologically distinct from both B. giganteus (in the relative length of the antennal flagellum and the length:width ratio of the pleotelson) and B. maxeyorum Shipley, Brooks, and Bruce in Shipley et al., 2016 (the number of pleotelson spines is seven and the distolateral corner is produced on the uropodal exopod). Therefore, it is here described as B. yucatanensis sp. nov. Bathynomus is currently a very minor fisheries resource in Taiwan and Japan, but this find demonstrates the continuing importance of the fishing industry to marine biological exploration.
The Neptune lobster, Metanephrops neptunus (Bruce, 1965), is reported from 300–600 m depths off the Pratas Islands southwest of Taiwan in the South China Sea. Seven males and three ovigerous females were captured in July 2019. Key morphological features and internal structures are described, with particular attention to the chelae, mandibles, gills, cephalothoracic and abdominal sculpturing, and gastric mills. The red-and-white coloration is described and illustrated from fresh specimens. The geographic range, depth of occurrence, stomach contents, and fecundity of the species are also noted.
In order to investigate the species-specific heat tolerance of tropical fishes, the thermodynamic properties of muscle tropomyosin, a member of myofibrillar proteins, were compared among milkfish, tilapia, grouper, and mudskipper. The purified tropomyosins were subjected to differential scanning calorimetry and circular dichroism spectrometry. To unveil the relationship between the stability and the amino acid sequences, the muscle tropomyosin genes of the four species were also cloned, and their deduced amino acid sequences were compared. Thermodynamic analysis revealed that the milkfish tropomyosin showed lower refolding ability after thermal denaturation, compared with those of the other species. The amino acid sequences of these tropomyosins were similar to each other, with the identity being in the range of 95–96%.
Holophryxus fusiformis Shiino, 1937, a species of dajid isopod that attaches to the carapace of sakura shrimp, Lucensosergia lucens (Hansen, 1922), is reported from the sea of Taiwan for the first time. This species was first described as infesting Prehensilosergia prehensilis (Bate, 1881) from Kanbara, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The current finding represents the second occurrence of H. fusiformis and identifies a new host. Approximately 1% of the sakura shrimps in Yilan, Taiwan are infected by H. fusiformis. Holophryxus fusiformis has been found offshore from both Yilan, Taiwan and Nagasaki and in Suruga Bay, Japan; thus, the distribution of the parasite possibly follows the Kuroshio Current. When large quantities of parasites occur in the sea of Taiwan, the parasites are likely to flow into the Japanese waters along with the Kuroshio Current, subsequently influencing the production of the Japanese sakura shrimps. The establishment of a monitoring program for infection of the dajid in sakura shrimps between Taiwan and Japan is recommended. This study provides additional information on this species, including a new host, distribution, redescription, infection rate, and morphological variation.
Burnt meat is one of the unusual meats often occurring in tuna species. In order to reveal the biochemical properties of burnt meat in tuna, burnt meat and normal meat samples were collected to examine the quality parameter including pH, color parameters, lactic acid content, the activities of antioxidant enzymes, and the levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and scavenging 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals. The results showed pH was significantly lower in burnt meat than in normal meat, and the lactic acid content was generally higher in burnt meat. In color parameters, the L* and b* values were higher in burnt meat. Besides, the activities of antioxidant enzymes, namely, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR) and catalase (CAT) in normal meat were higher than those in burnt meat. TBARS levels were significantly higher in burnt meat than in normal meat. It is thus likely that strong struggle of fish throughout catch and high water temperature induce partial inactivation of these antioxidant enzymes, resulting in free radical formation which triggers the occurrence of burnt meat. This fact could be beneficial for aquaculture and livestock industry of tunas to prevent burnt meat.
The complete mitochondrial genome of the gnomefish Scombrops boops was determined by a PCR-based method. The total length of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was 16,517 bp, including 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes and one control region. The mitochondrial gene arrangement of the gnomefish mtDNA was identical to those of typical teleosts. This is the first report of the complete mitochondrial genome of a member of the Scombropidae family and will be useful for the development of molecular tools for ecological research.
The Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) thin films were prepared by E-beam evaporation at oxygen pressure ranging from 1 × 10−4 to 1 × 10−3 Torr. The structure was analyzed by X-ray diffraction and the grain size was evaluated by Scherrer formula. The resistivity and transmittance were measured by 4-probe method and UV-Visible spectrophotometer, respectively. The crystallinity of ITO films increases with oxygen pressure increasing which also increase the intensity of (440). The grain size of ITO films increased with the oxygen pressure increasing. The resistivity decreased with oxygen pressure increasing, however, the transmittance increased. These results suggested that the deposition parameter of oxygen pressure plays an important role in ITO thin film preparation by E-bean evaporation.
This article presents a research concerning the influence of the grounding surface for a triple-band G-shape monopole plane antenna based on a PSO algorithm. The PSO algorithm utilizes fewer computation and concise program code in comparison with a GA algorithm, and could solve the optimal grounding surface by added with weighting inertia. The design procedure and fabrication steps for an antenna are applied and simulated for triple-band wireless applications. The proposed PSO algorithm provides better precision, faster convergence, and shorter time for solving the global optimal solution.
The research aims at geometry of shape by different microstructure and discusses its microstructure influence on the flow quality and the different draft angle of patterns. It uses injection compresses mold to carry on micro injection molding research experiment. Manufacture of the mold-core uses the lithography, the KOH isotropy wet etching and the reactive ion etching(RIE) anisotropy etching, and obtains the microstructure mold core by electroform. The experimental materials use the polypropylene (PP) and (HDPE) to carry on comparison of the material fluidity, and carries on the Taguchi’s experiment. It can designate the four factors of injection speed, the mold temperature, the melt temperature and holding pressure to carry on injection experiment. It discovers the most important two factors of the microstructure fluid and joins two factors of project in the injection compression function the compression speed and the compression distance and carries on experiment of Taguchi’s L9 to analysis the injection of compression function whether it can smoothly reduce the tradition to injection the parameter standard.
In the article, a course on high performance High intensity discharge (HID) driving circuits is presented. With the driving circuits available from a prerequisite course, the present course emphasizes the design and implementation of the driving circuit as well as system integration issues. Laboratory sessions are an essential part of the course. Successive completion of the laboratories automatically leads students to a “working” advanced lightness system.
Fast skeletal muscle tropomyosin (TM) of tunas is composed of nearly equimolar amount of two isoforms designated alpha-TM and beta-TM expediently based on their migration behavior in SDS-PAGE, whereas corresponding TMs from the other fish species are homogenous (alpha-type). The presence of beta-TM is thus specific to tunas so far. The amino acid sequence of beta-TM from bluefin tuna Thunnus thynnus orientalis, which has not been revealed to date unlike alpha-TM, was successfully obtained in this study by cDNA cloning. The coding region of beta-TM cDNA comprised of an open reading frame of 855bp encoding 284 amino acid residues, like most of the TMs. Unexpectedly, the sequence of beta-TM showed high similarity to those of other vertebrate alpha-type TMs including tuna alpha-TM. Phylogenetic analysis also showed that beta-TM has the closest relationship with alpha-TM of tuna. This fact was quite unlike the relation of mammalian alpha- and beta-TMs. Based on the distribution of amino acid substitutions, it was suggested that tuna TM isoforms are the products of different genes. By thermodynamic analysis of native and reconstituted TMs, it was demonstrated that beta-TM is less thermostable than alpha-TM. Proteolytic digestion also supported the lower stability of the former.
In this article, a course on high-frequency wireless communications systems is presented. With the 145-MHz baseband subsystem available from a prerequisite course, the present course emphasizes the design and implementation of the 2.45-GHz front-end subsystem as well as system integration issues. In this curriculum, the 2.45-GHz front-end subsystem includes only the antenna and the low-noise amplifier. Laboratory sessions are an essential part of the course. Successive completion of the laboratories automatically leads students to having a "working" 2.45-GHz wireless communications system. This course is beneficial to students who will pursue a career in wireless communication technology and related fields.