Most eggs in the animal kingdom establish a primary, animal-vegetal axis maternally, and specify the remaining two axes during development. In sea urchin embryos, the expression of Nodal on the oral (ventral) side of the embryo is the first known molecular determinant of the oral-aboral axis (the embryonic dorsoventral axis), and is crucial for specification of the oral territory. We show that ...

The author briefly describes the development of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Guidelines for the transport of animals by sea. The paper provides details about the membership of the OIE Ad hoc Group on the sea transport of animals, the terms of reference of this group, the process followed and the consultations that were undertaken in developing and reviewing the guidelines. An ...

Diving animals offer a unique opportunity to study the importance of physiological constraint in their everyday behaviors. An important component of the physiological capability of any diving animal is its aerobic dive limit (ADL). The ADL has only been measured in a few species. The goal of this study was to estimate the aerobic dive limit from measurements of body oxygen stores and at sea met...

Temperature dependent changes in the mode of energy metabolism and in acid-base status were studied in the range from )1.7 to 26 oC in two populations of Arenicola marina collected in summer as well as in winter from intertidal flats of the North Sea (boreal) and the White Sea (subpolar). Extreme temperatures led to an accumulation of anaerobic end products, indicating the existence of both a l...

T HE effects of administering sea water and similar solutions to animals, and occasionally to human beings, have been studied sporadically. Semipopular accounts of the gross effects of the drinking of sea water by shipwreck victims exist (I). During World War II the torpedoing of ships at sea and the loss of planes over open ocean, setting survivors adrift in lifeboats and on rafts, gave impetu...