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In this study, four selected strains of lactic acid bacteria of marine origin were freeze-dried using skim milk as a cryoprotectant. After freeze-drying, survival rates were determined under 24-hour exposure to seawater samples. Isolate Lactiplantibacillus plantarum I had the highest survival rate of 92.5% and was selected for further experiments. Freeze-dried Lpb. plantarum I strain was added to queen scallop Aequipecten opercularis (Linnaeus 1758) in circular basins under climate change conditions (temperature and pH modifications) for one month. After the feeding period, shellfish were collected and microbiological quality was determined for each scallop. The results indicate that the addition of Lpb. plantarum I significantly improved the microbiological quality of the cultivated scallops. The total number of bacteria together with Staphylococcus species was significantly reduced, and the added lactic acid bacteria strain was maintained at desired amounts during the entire feeding period. The results obtained indicate that the inclusion of Lpb. plantarum I as a dietary supplement could provide protection against pathogens and serve as a feasible approach to reduce infection levels when cultivating A. opercularis in captivity.

The Great Atlantic scallop, or King scallop (Pecten maximus), ranks third in value after mackerel and Nephrops in UK fisheries. Its landings have surged over recent decades, making it the UK's fastest-growing fishery. Scallop stock assessments, crucial for sustainable fisheries management, traditionally rely on fisheries surveys, including underwater imaging and dredge sampling. Data on areas that contain scallops but not fishable using dredges is lacking. Dredge sampling is also potentially destructive. Remote data collection using drop down cameras and towed video are used, but there are few tools available to analyse these data automatically. P. maximus are usually recessed in fine sand and gravel habitats making image identification challenging. This study explores the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI), specifically the NetHarn model from the VIAME toolkit, to identify and count scallops from underwater video transects. The research utilises diverse video footage from NatureScot, captured with custom camera systems (DDV and miniDDV), providing varied habitat, image quality, and camera specifications. Previous AI studies of this species artificially placed scallops on the seabed and are not representative of natural presentation. This research applies the same AI model to survey images featuring scallops in their natural habitat. Results showed moderate performance of the NetHarn model, achieving an F1 score of 0.44 and a mean Average Precision (mAP) of 0.41 when classifying scallops into three categories: king, queen, and dead. Model performance varied across geographic locations, camera platforms, and habitat types, with challenges including blurred images and mislabelling. The study emphasises the need for improved data acquisition, standardised camera systems, and larger annotated datasets to enhance AI model performance. Despite moderate results, this research highlights AI's potential for automating estimation of scallop stock abundance and marine habitat monitoring. Future efforts should focus on addressing image quality issues, increasing sample sizes, and optimising data collection for enhanced marine conservation and fisheries management.

We investigated the individual and interactive effects of coastal and climate change stressors (elevated temperatures, acidification, and hypoxia) on the growth, survival, and respiration rates of 4 commercially and ecologically important North Atlantic bivalves: bay scallops Argopecten irradians, Eastern oysters Crassostrea virginica, blue mussels Mytilus edulis, and hard clams Mercenaria mercenaria. Month-long experiments were performed on multiple cohorts of post-set juveniles using conditions commonly found during summer months within eutrophied, shallow, temperate, coastal environments (24–31°C; 2–7 mg O₂ l−1; pHT, total scale, 7.2–8.0). Elevated temperatures most consistently altered the performance of the bivalves, with both positive and negative physiological consequences. Low levels of dissolved oxygen (DO) and pH individually reduced the survival, shell growth, and/or tissue weight of each bivalve, with A. irradians being the most vulnerable species. Low DO also significantly increased respiration rates of A. irradians and M. mercenaria, evidencing a compensatory physiological response to hypoxia. M. edulis and M. mercenaria both displayed size-dependent vulnerability to acidification, with smaller individuals being more susceptible. The combination of low DO and low pH often interacted antagonistically to yield growth rates higher than would be predicted from either individual stressor, potentially suggesting that some anaerobic metabolic pathways may function optimally under hypercapnia. Elevated temperature and low pH interacted both antagonistically and synergistically, producing outcomes that could not be predicted from the responses to individual stressors. Collectively, this study revealed species- and size-specific vulnerabilities of bivalves to coastal stressors along with unpredicted interactions among those stressors.

Obtaining viable Argopecten purpuratus seeds faces challenges, especiallyci the unpredictability of the marine environment and high production costs in hatcheries. However, improving the method of \"Broodstock Conditioning In Hatcheries\" is key to ensure permanent seed supplies by minimizing the dependence on marine conditions and by maximizing economic viability in hatcheries. In an effort to overcome these barriers, broodstock were conditioned into two different environments: (a) Natural Environment: Natural marine conditions located in Bahía Inglesa, Atacama Region, Chile. (b) Hatchery: Laboratory conditions to achieve gonadal maturation, spawning induction, fertilization and larval development. The purpose of this research was to evaluate how the type of reproductive conditioning affects the reproductive potential and nutritional quality of the progeny. Both methods were successful at inducing the necessary maturity for reproduction, obtaining viable gametes and larvae. On the other hand, it was observed that in the natural environment, the oocytes and D larvae reached a greater size and nutritional value, being the most significant differences with (p < 0.05): the size of the D larvae reached figures of 95.8 ± 3.1 μm and 91.2 ± 2.7 μm in the environment and hatchery, respectively; the lipid content in dry mass was 25.2 ± 3.1 mg g[sup.−1] and 13.5 ± 1.9 mg g[sup.−1] for the natural environment and hatchery, respectively. Although quality indicators in hatcheries were slightly lower compared to the natural environment, the possibility of conditioning A. purpuratus broodstock independently of environmental variability highlights the importance of further optimizing broodstock conditioning aspects in hatcheries that would allow more predictable and sustainable production.

Knowledge of the geographic distribution and connectivity of marine populations is essential for ecological understanding and informing management. Previous works have assessed spatial structure by quantifying exchange using Lagrangian particle-tracking simulations, but their scope of analysis is limited by their use of predefined subpopulations. To instead delineate subpopulations emerging naturally from marine population connectivity, we interpret this connectivity as a network, enabling the use of powerful analytic tools from the field of network theory. The modelling approach presented here uses particle-tracking to construct a transport network, and then applies the community detection algorithm Infomap to identify subpopulations that exhibit high internal connectivity and sparse connectivity with other subpopulations. An established quality metric, the coherence ratio, and a new metric we introduce indicating self-recruitment to subpopulations, dubbed the fortress ratio, are used to interpret community-level exchange. We use the Atlantic sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) in the northwest Atlantic as a case study. Results suggest that genetic lineages of P. magellanicus demonstrate spatial substructure that depends on horizontal transport, vertical motility, and suitable habitat. Our results support connectivity previously characterized on Georges Bank and Mid-Atlantic Bight. The Gulf of St. Lawrence genetic lineage is found to consist of five subpopulations that are classified as being a sink, source, permeable, or impermeable using quality metrics. This approach may be applied to other planktonic dispersers and prove useful to management.

Owing to the constant wind generated by the vast ocean, energy production from offshore wind farms (OWFs) plays an important role in the expansion of renewable energy. However, areas close to large wind farms are often left unutilized, and aquaculture farmers find it difficult to efficiently utilize these unoccupied spaces due to limited information showing the feasibility of utilization of OWFs as potential scallop culture sites. To analyze whether the two scallop species Zhikong scallop (Chlamys farreri) and bay scallop (Argopecten irradians) can be grown at OWFs of Gochang and Buan, Jeollabuk-do, Republic of Korea, the growth characteristics of the two scallop species were analyzed and compared with those grown at the Tongyeong Megacosm Test Station. The results clearly showed that the growth of scallops at the OWF was significantly lower with respect to the shell lengths, height, width, and weight, compared to those grown at the megacosm station. However, scallops grown at the OWF still showed consistent growth in parallel with those grown at the megacosm test station. Yet, there was a species-specific mortality rate between the two sites. In addition, our results suggest that temperature may be a key determinant of the growth of C. farreri and A. irradians. Overall, this study contributes to establishing a foundation for the stable and continuous farming of marine bivalves (e.g., clams, oysters, mussels, and scallops) in OWF areas.

The infestation of boring polychaetes can represent a serious problem for mollusks in natural populations and aquaculture. In the Mexican Pacific, their effects have been scarcely studied. So, this research aimed to analyze the infestation levels of Polydora sp. on Nodipecten subnodosus in the Ojo de Liebre Lagoon. Between May 2014 and October 2015, 639 specimens from four banks were collected to examine the spatial and temporal variations of the number of blisters by valve and their relationships with the scallop size. Around the lagoon mouth, the smaller scallops (<51 cm2) dominated, having the higher infestation percentages: Chocolatero: 88 ind (61%), Zacatoso: 86 ind (51%). In contrast, the larger scallops (51-89 cm2) were found in the inner lagoon, with smaller percentages of infestation: La Concha: 35 ind (21%) and El Datil: 29 ind (19%). The right valves, in closer contact with the bottom, were more infested than the left; those from Chocolatero and Zacatoso had more blisters (right 51-61%, left 14-15%), whereas in La Concha and El Datil both valves had fewer blisters (right 19-21%, left 6-8%). Larger scallops (51-89 cm2) from La Concha had low (5 ind) and medium (4 ind) infestation levels, and those smaller from Chocolatero (13-51 cm2) had high levels (34 ind). However, the relationship size scallop-infestation level needed to be clarified since larger scallops of El Datil also had high infestation levels (6 ind), and smaller specimens of Zacatoso showed lower (25 ind) and medium (27 ind) levels.

Background QN Orange scallops are interspecific hybrids with orange adductor muscles that are rich in carotenoids. In this study, analysis of miRNA expression profiles was performed to explore possible regulatory patterns involved in carotenoid accumulation in adductor muscles of QN Orange scallops. Results A total of 91 differentially expressed miRNA between the white and orange adductor muscles were identified. GO and KEGG analysis of target genes of differentially expressed miRNAs revealed enrichments in the transmembrane transporter activity-related pathways, kinase activity-related pathways, signal transduction-related pathways, ATP binding cassette transporters (ABC transporters), retinol metabolism, lipid-related metabolism, and calcium signaling pathway. In particular, miRNA Contig1462_36180, which was shown to negatively regulate the activity of methyltransferase 3 (METTL3) by dual-luciferase reporter assay, may play a pivotal role in the accumulation of carotenoids. Furthermore, METTL3 interference seemed to reduce the pectenoxanthin content and m6A level. Conclusion It is thus speculated that Contig1462_36180 may regulate m6A methylation by regulating METTL3, which in turn affects pectenoxanthin accumulation in QN Orange scallops.

As “Bohai Red” scallops were originated from the hybrids between the Peruvian scallop ( Argopecten purpuratus ) and the bay scallop ( Argopecten irradians ) northern subspecies ( Argopecten irradians irradians ). Twelve Wnt members were identified from the two subspecies of bay scallop, and 13 Wnt genes were found in the genome of the Peruvian scallop. Protein structure analyses showed that most Wnt genes poses all 5 conserved motifs except Wnt1, Wnt2, Wnt6 , and Wnt9 in the bay scallops and Wnt2 and Wnt9 in the Peruvian scallop. Unexpectedly, Wnt8 gene was present while Wnt3 was absent in both the bay scallops and the Peruvian scallop. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that Wnt3 might have disappeared in the early evolution of mollusks. The expression profile of Wnt genes in the “Bohai Red” exposed to different temperatures was examined by qRT-PCR. Results show that expression of Wnt genes responded differentially to temperature changes. The Wnt genes such as Wnt1, Wnt6, Wnt7, Wnt11 , and WntA that responded slowly to low and high temperature stresses may be related to the maintenance of basic homeostasis. Other Wnt genes such as Wnt4, Wnt9, Wnt5 , and Wnt2 that responded rapidly to low temperature may play an important role in organismal protection against low temperature stress. And yet some Wnt genes including Wnt10, Wnt16 , and Wnt8 that responded quickly to high temperature stress may play key roles in response to high temperature stress. The results provide new insights into the evolution and function of Wnt genes in bivalves and eventually benefit culture of “Bohai Red” scallops.