Hubbard Clemons (ratepencil3)

Twenty-three metals were evaluated in Indian Mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta) collected at nine fishing settlements along the coastal waters of Visakhapatnam. The muscle tissue was analyzed for metals using 7700 Series ICP-MS. The metal concentration obtained was in the order of Al > Fe > Zn > Cr > Sr > Mn > Cu > As > Se > Rb > Ag > Ba > Pb > Ni > V > Li > Cs > Cd > Co > U > Ga > Be > Ti in all samples. Most of the heavy metals were within the prescribed norms of the FAO, WHO, EC, and MHSAC, except for Al (34.66-58.55 μg/g), Cr (2.62-3.24 μg/g), Mn (0.86-1.36 μg/g), As (0.67-1.47 μg/g), and Pb (0.06-0.37 μg/g). The study reveals that the fish are not entirely safe for consumption and the pollution levels are on the borderline but can be remedied.The fishery and mariculture industry contributes to social food supply and offers high-quality protein to humans. However, mariculture is recently regarded as an important source of marine microplastic pollution, which might even pose a threat to human health. Here we investigated a shrimp-culturing farm for 9 months in Longjiao Bay, a typical mariculture area in southeast China, to study the occurrence and seasonal variations of microplastics in the mariculture water. Results showed that microplastics were widely present (250-5150 particles/m3, mean 1594 particles/m3) in the water of culture ponds. Granules (41.36%) and fibers (34.93%) were the main components of microplastics and white (45.42%) is the dominant color, followed by yellow (32.13%) and black (19.55%). Most of microplastics had a particle size between 0.30 mm and 5.00 mm (92.03%). The proportions of PE (34.40%) and PET (30.18%) accounted for more than 60% of detected microplastics. The abundance of microplastics in mariculture water had a potential positive correlation with local seafood yield and a negative correlation with land areas. This study suggested that further research is needed to figure out the impact of the high levels of microplastic abundance in mariculture environments on organisms, especially cultured ones.Marine bivalves are often used as a sentinel species in coastal environmental monitoring since changes in the environmental quality are often well preserved in their cells and tissues. Anadara and Tegillarca species of Arcidae, the blood cockles, are considered to be good sentinel species in monitoring coastal pollution and ecosystem health because they are distributed widely in the subsurface of intertidal mudflats. Internal cellular defense of the blood cockles to physical and biological stresses is mediated by the circulating hemocytes, while their hemocyte types and functions are poorly studied. In this study, we first characterized morphology and immune-related activities of hemocytes of three common blood cockles Anadara broughtonii, A. kagoshimensis, and Tegillarca granosa using flow cytometry. Based on cell morphology and immunological functions, we described five types of hemocytes identically in the three blood cockles erythrocytes type-I (erythrocytes-I), erythrocytes type-II (erythrocytes-II), gragocytosis and oxidative capacities. Blast-like cells characterized by the smallest size and small quantity of cytoplasm and exhibited an absence of phagocytosis and extremely low oxidative capacity, suggesting that this population is not directly involved in the cell-mediated immune activities. In conclusion, flow cytometry indicated that three blood cockles had five types of hemocytes, and the erythrocytes and granulocytes were mainly involved in the immunological activities.Estuaries of Southeast Asia are increasingly impacted by land-cover changes and pollution. Here, our research objectives were to (1) determine the origins of nutrient loads along the Can Gio estuary (Vietnam) and (2) identify the processes that affect the nutrient pools during the monsoon. We constructed four 24-h time-series along the salinity gradient measur