Résumé: Vulcanodinium rugosum, a recently described species, produces pinnatoxins. The IFR-VRU-01 strain, isolated from a French Mediterranean lagoon in 2010 and identified as the causative dinoflagellate contaminating mussels in the Ingril Lagoon (French Mediterranean) with pinnatoxin-G, was grown in an enriched natural seawater medium. We tested the effect of temperature and salinity on growth, pinnatoxin-G production and chlorophyll a levels of this dinoflagellate. These factors were tested in combinations of five temperatures (15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 °C) and five salinities (20, 25, 30, 35 and 40) at an irradiance of 100 µmol photon m−2 s−1. V. rugosum can grow at temperatures and salinities ranging from 20 °C to 30 °C and 20 to 40, respectively. The optimal combination for growth (0.39 ± 0.11 d−1) was a temperature of 25 °C and a salinity of 40. Results suggest that V. rugosum is euryhaline and thermophile which could explain why this dinoflagellate develops in situ only from June to September. V. rugosum growth rate and pinnatoxin-G production were highest at temperatures ranging between 25 and 30 °C. This suggests that the dinoflagellate may give rise to extensive blooms in the coming decades caused by the climate change-related increases in temperature expected in the Mediterranean coasts.

Résumé: Historical longline catch per unit effort (CPUE) constitutes the major time series used in tuna stock assessment to followthe trend in abundance since the beginning of the large-scale tuna fisheries. The efficiency and species composition of a longline fishing operations essentially depends on the overlap in the vertical and spatial distribution between hooks and species habitat. Longline catchability depends on the vertical distribution of hooks and the aim of our paper was to analyse principal factors affecting the deviation of observed longline hook depths from predicted values. Since observed hook depth is usually shallower than predicted, this deviation is called longline shoaling.We evaluate the accuracy of hook depth distribution estimated from a theoretical catenary model commonly used in longline CPUE standardizations. Temperature-depth recorders (TDRs) were deployed on baskets of a monitored longline. Mainline shapes and maximum fishing depths were similar to gear configurations commonly used to target both yellowfin and bigeye tuna by commercial longliners in the central part of the South Pacific Ocean. Our working hypothesis assumes that the maximum fishing depth reached by the mainline depends on the gear configuration (sag ratio, mainline length per basket), the fishing tactics (bearing of the setting) and environmental variables characterizing water mass dynamics (wind stress, current velocity and shear). Based on generalized additive models (GAMs) simple transformations are proposed to account for the non-linearity between the shoaling and explanatory variables. Then, generalized linear models (GLMs) were fit to model the effects of explanatory variables on the longline shoaling. Results indicated that the shoaling (absolute aswell as relative) was significantly influenced by (1) the shape of the mainline (i.e., the tangential angle), which is the strongest predictor, and (2) the current shear and the direction of setting. Geometric forcing (i.e. transverse versus in-line) between the environment and the longline set is shown for the first time from in situ experimental fishing data. Results suggest that a catenary model that does not take these factors into consideration provides a biased estimate of the vertical distribution of hooks and must be used with caution in CPUEs standardization methods. Since catchability varies in time and space we discuss how suitable data could be routinely collected onboard commercial fishing vessels in order to estimate longline catchability for stock assessments.
© 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved..

Résumé: The copepod community structure and the distribution of the main groups of zooplankton were studied along an inshore-offshore gradient in the Gulf of Tunis during the rainy and dry seasons of 2007-2008. Hydrological parameters were also measured to assess the potential role of abiotic and biotic factors in the distribution of copepod species. The copepod community in the Gulf of Tunis comprises 86 species dominated by Paracalanus parvus, Clausocalanus lividus, Centropages kroyeri and Acartia clausi. Time had a greater influence than space (horizontal and vertical gradients) in shaping the copepod community structure with a significant influence of the seasons; winter (cold and rainy) resulted in hydrological conditions that were strongly different from those observed in summer (warm and dry). These hydrological differences were concomitant with changes in the community structure, with a high copepod diversity observed in winter while the summer period was characterized by a low specific richness and the dominance of a few species, Centropages kroyeri and Paracalanus parvus along the inshore-offshore gradient and Paracalanus aculeatus along the vertical. Canonical correspondence analysis showed that temperature, salinity and to a lesser extent chlorophyll a were the most important environmental factors structuring the copepod community. Interestingly, temperature and salinity showed a negative significant correlation with copepod specific richness. Competition with grazers (cladoceran) as well as top down control by predators (chaetognaths and siphonophors) were also identified as key factors for the copepod community structure.