Welcome to our international conference on rapid sea-level change. While concern about sea-level rise is global, our host country the Islamic Republic of Iran and the neighbouring Caspian countries have a concern of their own. Here, Caspian sea level rose a hundred times as fast as in the world’s oceans. Whereas oceanic sealevel rose 13 centimeter during the whole twentieth century, the Caspian...

The Black, Azov, Caspian and Aral Seas, remnants of the intracontinental Paratethys basin, are home to a spectacular diversity of crustaceans. This study examines the past history of the Ponto-Caspian fauna through comparative phylogeographical studies on both benthic and planktonic taxa, based on an examination of nucleotide diversity in the mitochondrial, cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) ...

background: iron, manganese, and aluminum are three abundant metals on earth and their concentrations have increased in aquatic environments as a result of natural and industrial activities. this study was undertaken to report the median acute toxicity (lc50) and accumulation of the sub-lethal concentration (10% 96-h lc50) of iron (fe), manganese (mn) and aluminum (al) in kutum (rutilus kutum) ...

Thousands of Caspian seals (Phoca caspica) died in the Caspian Sea from April to August 2000. Lesions characteristic of morbillivirus infection were found in tissue specimens from dead seals. Canine distemper virus infection was identified by serologic examination, reverse transcriptase- polymerase chain reaction, and sequencing of selected P gene fragments. These results implicate canine diste...

The Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata) flourished in Central Asian riverine forest systems in a range disjunct from that of other tigers, but was driven to extinction in 1970 prior to a modern molecular evaluation. For over a century naturalists puzzled over the taxonomic validity, placement, and biogeographic origin of this enigmatic animal. Using ancient-DNA (aDNA) methodology, we genera...

The Caspian seal (Pusa caspica) has declined by more than 90% since 1900 and is listed as endangered by IUCN. We made the first quantitative assessment of Caspian seal by-catch mortality in fisheries in the north Caspian Sea by conducting semi-structured interviews in fishing communities along the coasts of Russia (Kalmykia, Dagestan), Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. We recorded a documented minim...

in this study, the diversity and distribution of economical bony fishes in less-than-ten-meter depths, cpue and population features such as total length, weight and age were investigated in the southern part of the caspian sea in 1385-6. sampling was done in five regions: amir abad, larim, izdeh, kheyroud, and nashtarood with gilnet in mesh sizes of 26, 33, 40, 60, 100, and 150 mm. in total, 22...

fish larvae have several sensory systems that are functional at or soon after hatching and then are developed further during larval and juvenile stages. this study was conducted to investigate development of the eye in rutilus kutum , based on histological and allometric growth analysis during early developmental stages up to 35 day post hatching with emphasis on retinal morphology. for this pu...

Salted Kutum roe was prepared by soaking in brine to a traditional procedure. Proximate composition (moisture, protein, lipid, pH, ash and salt content), total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), fatty acid profiles and microbiological characteristics of raw and salted roe of Caspian white fish (Rutilus frisii kutum) were determined. The results indicated that protein and moisture contents were si...