Acero, P., William J. Richards, Felipe Amaya and María M. Criales: First Caribbean record of Akko dionaea (Pisces: Gobiidae), another South American endemic , pp. 133-138

Akko dionaea Birdsong and Robins is reported here from the Colombian Caribbean, based on specimens collected at the mouth of the estuary Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta. Ten night collections with channel nets at the mouth of the estuary yielded a total of 228 specimens representing larval to juvenile stages. Specimens were captured during the new and full moon, mainly during the dry season. Larval and juvenile stages of A. dionaea are described here for the first time. The species  undergoes strong allometric changes during its development, mainly in the  length of the head and eye. The species is described and the ecology and biogeography of the species are discussed.

Alexei M. Orlov: Bottom trawl-caught fishes and some features of their vertical distribution in the Pacific waters off the north Kuril Islands and south-east Kamchatka, 1993-1999, pp. 139-160

The species composition of demersal fishes in Pacific waters off the north Kuril Islands and south-east Kamchatka is considered. The study is based on 1275 demersal trawls carried out from 1993 to 1999 at depths between 76 and 833 m.

The fishes identified in this study included 153 species, 97 genera, and 41 families; 62.1 % of the total were from the following families: snailfishes (Liparidae); sculpins (Cottidae); righteye flounders (Pleuronectidae); skates (Rajidae); eelpouts (Zoarcidae); rockfishes (Sebastidae) and poachers (Agonidae). The relative abundances of the 153 species collected were categorised as: Very rare: 79; Rare: 30; Common: 24; and Abundant: 20. Most species found off the north Kuril Islands and south-east Kamchatka were also common in the Sea of Okhotsk (74.5 %) and the western Bering Sea (80.4 %).

The collected demersal fish species comprised: anadromous (1), neritic (3), mesopelagic (26), middle shelf (18), outer shelf (18), mesobenthic (62), and bathybenthic (25). Of the middle shelf species, the most abundant were northern rock sole Lepidopsetta polyxystra and Atka mackerel Pleurogrammus monopterygius. Atka mackerel Pleurogrammus monopterygius was also the most abundant fish in the outer shelf group. The mesobenthic fish fauna was dominated by the Alaska pollock Theragra chalcogramma, Pacific ocean perch Sebastes alutus, Atka mackerel Pleurogrammus monopterygius, and the northern rock sole, Lepidopsetta polyxystra. The most abundant bathybenthic fishes were the giant grenadier Albatrossia pectoralis, popeye grenadier Coryphae-noides cinereus, broadbanded thornyhead Sebastolobus macrochir, darkfin sculpin Malacocottus zonurus, and dimdisc snailfish Elassodiscus tremebundus.

José Martins Silva-Jr, Flávio J. L. Silva and Ivan Sazima: Rest, nurture, sex, release, and play: diurnal underwater behaviour of the spinner dolphin at Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, SW Atlantic, pp. 161-176

At Fernando de Noronha Archipelago in the South West Atlantic, spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) regularly congregate in large groups in a bay with clear, shallow water, allowing their behaviour to be observed and recorded at close quarters. We present an overview of the diurnal underwater activity of the Noronha spinners while in the bay. Apart from well-known types of behaviour such as resting, mating, and playing, we present and illustrate others such as suckling, defaecating, and vomiting which are less well-known and documented. Heterospecific interactions and associations are also discussed. An ecologically new role for cetaceans, as a food supplier for reef fishes, is herein proposed for the Noronha spinners.