Mesopotamian Journal of Marine Science

During collection of some marine fishes from Khor Al-Ummaia at territorial Iraqi waters, north-west Arabian Gulf, six shark species were recorded for the first time in Iraq. These are: sand tiger shark Carchariaus taurus Rafinesque, 1810, hooktooth shark Chaenogaleus macrostoma (Bleeker, 1852), Arabian smooth-hound Mustelus mosis Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1899, milk shark Rhizoprionodon acutus (Rüppell, 1837), Grey sharpnose shark R. oligolinx Springer, 1964, and zebra shark Stegostoma fasciatum (Hermann, 1783). The systematic characters for each species are given. The historical records of elasmobranchs of Iraq is reviewed and discussed. The present records bring the total number of shark species in Iraq to 17 species.

The levels of petroleum hydrocarbons and trace elements were determined in water and sediment samples from the Fertilizer Plant in Khor Al-Zubair, southern Iraq, from three selected locations; ammonia unit, urea unit and water treatment plant. The mean concentrations of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPHs) in the water were 81.07 µg/l at ammonia unit, 153.69 µg/l at urea unit and 8.89 µg/l at water treatment plant. The mean values of TPHs in the sediment were 129.46µg/g at ammonia unit, 406.68 µg/g at urea unit and 48.97µg/g at water treatment plant. The range of trace metals concentrations (mg/l) for water samples were 480.13-620.12 for Fe, 280.23-400.26 for Mn, 3.28-10.23 for Cu, 18.23-31.28 for Zn, 3.26-9.23 for Pb, 0.23-1.05 for Cd and 6.25-10.21 for Co. The range of these measured metals concentrations in µg/g for sediment samples were 632.18-980.45 for Fe, 280.23-400.26 for Mn, 9.26-16.53 for Cu, 30.12-51.24 for Zn, 23.41-30.23 for Pb, 0.62-1.52 for Cd and 20.21-32.42 for Co. The results have been compared to other international and local values. The geochemical index values for studied metals excluded Fe and Cd in the sediments of the three stations exhibited class 2 and hence are moderately polluted. Station (2) was the highest in the geochemical index. All the sampling locations have an enrichment factors values greater than 5 except location (1) for Cd and location (3) for Zn. The sediments from the studied locations fall under the category of low for Fe, moderate for Zn and Cd expect location (2) which showed a contamination factor (CF) of 4, marginally falls under considerable degree of contamination and considerable to very high contamination for the rest metals. All sediment samples with pollution index greater than 1 showed pollution caused by industrial processes of Fertilizer Plant.

Abstract - A total of 210 fish specimens belonging to three species from the Red Sea, Yemeni coastal waters were examined for the infection with monopisthocotylean monogeneans during the period from October 2009 till May 2010. The results showed the occurrence of four species of monogeneans. These were Pseudolamellodiscus sphyraenae from Sphyraena barracuda, Cabellaria liewi from Pomadasys argenteus and both Chauhanellus indicus and C. chauhani from Plicofollis dussumieri. The occurrence of these monogeneans represents their first record from the Yemeni fishes of the Red Sea except C. indicus which is reported here for the second time.

The study was conducted to know the present status of conservation and management of sea turtle in Cox’s Bazar district, Bangladesh. Two species of sea turtles have been making nest in Bangladesh. A total of 251 turtle individuals were found. The highest nesting frequency of Olive ridley (108) and Green turtles (10) were observed in February. About 21,942 hatchlings were produced and released by the hatcheries for conservational step. A total of one hundred people were selected randomly for taking interview to assess their knowledge and attitude towards sea turtle conservation and management. Most of the respondents were fishermen (55%), student and housewife were 20% and 8%, 5% were found involving in business and rest 12% were involved in others activities. About 45% of the respondents thought that turtles were beneficial while other 40% of the respondents thought turtles were harmful. The rest of the respondents (15%) answered that they were not sure whether sea turtle was beneficial or harmful. Most of the fishermen did not know about Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) or its uses. It was found that the nesting of sea turtles was reducing and there was lack of knowledge among the people of the study area about the importance of sea turtle conservation and management.

Shatt Al-Basrah is an artificial Canal, started in 1971 and completed in 1983. It was established to reduce flood and drain the excess water during the flood seasons, as a canal alternative to Shatt al-Arab during the Iran-Iraq war. It delivers water to the Zubair area and Al Faw town for agricultural purposes. A deterioration of the water quality of the canal was occurred due to many reasons; most importantly was the close of the canal at the junction of Garmat-Ali which is affected by the semidiurnal rhythm of the Arabian Gulf. There is a regulator located at about 22 km from the head of the canal. The main purpose of the canal is to control water drainage during flood and mitigating the effects on both sides land. In this paper the canal was simulated by the existence of controlled barrage on the water way, closed during the flood tide time and opened at the ebb tide. The simulation results after calibration of the mathematical model with field measurements, matched with high accuracy. The tidal effects on the canal can be determined, and the rehabilitation of the canal and water management in the surrounding areas can be preformed. The results indicate the sensitivity of the mathematical model to predict the measurements of water level, volume of water, flow speed of the current, discharge, downstream and upstream direction of discharge and the effect of tidal range at any point along the canal at the closure and opening of the regulator.

The structural organization of the olfactory epithelium in Sperata aor was studied by light as well as scanning electron microscopy. The elongated olfactory organ comprised of 52-54 primary lamellae assorted on both sides of narrow median raphe. The middle dorsal part of the olfactory lamellae was characterised with linguiform processes. Sensory and non-sensory areas were distributed separately on each olfactory lamella. The sensory epithelium occupied in the middle linguiform process, whereas the basal part of lamellae was covered with non-sensory epithelium. The sensory epithelium was composed of morphologically distinct two types of receptor neurons either ciliated or microvillous. The non-sensory epithelium contained mucous cells and supporting cells with inconspicuous microridges. The orientation of different cells lining the olfactory epithelium was discussed in light of their functional significance.

Four commonly occurring marine seaweeds; Ulva lactuca, Enteromorpha compressa (Chlorophyta), Padina pavonica (Phaeophyta) and Jania rubens (Rhodophyta) were collected from the coast of Gaza strip, Palestine. Crude extracts were prepared using the solvent methanol and evaluated for antibacterial activity by well diffusion method against both Gram negative (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris and Klebsiella pneumoniae) and Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis). The crude methanolic extract of U. lactuca inhibited the growth of all the test organisms except E. coli. Seaweed extract of E. compressa was found to be effective against two of the examined bacteria. Algae belonging to Chlorophyta showed higher antibacterial activity than other members of the algae tested in the present investigation. The methanol extracts of brown and red algae did not show any significant effect on the growth of tested bacteria. E. coli was resistant to all the extracts. Results of the present study confirmed the potential use of seaweed extracts as a source of antibacterial compounds.