Marine Biology and Fisheries Science Lecture Notes

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering marine resource management, fisheries acts, aquaculture, horseshoe crab biology, marine invertebrates, plankton ecology, invasive species, and scientific research evaluation based on the lecture transcript.

NOAA

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; federal agency responsible for managing and conserving marine/coastal resources, including fisheries.

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA)

Legislation that prevents overfishing, rebuilds overfished stocks, increases long-term economic/social benefits, ensures sustainable seafood, and protects fish habitat.

Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA)

Federal act that protects marine mammals such as whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, and sea lions.

Endangered Species Act (ESA)

Federal act that protects endangered and threatened species and the ecosystems they depend on.

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

Legislation requiring federal agencies to consider environmental impacts when making decisions.

Commercial fishery

Fishing conducted for profit, where fish and shellfish are caught and marketed commercially.

Recreational fishery

Fishing conducted for sport or pleasure.

Subsistence fishery

Fishing conducted for personal, family, or community consumption or sharing.

Fishery

In general, activities related to catching fish; can refer to a place, occupation, industry, season, or business involving fishing.

Stock

A population of a species involved in a fishery whose population dynamics are relatively independent from other stocks, usually due to geographic separation.

Overfishing

A harvest rate that is higher than the rate that produces the stock's maximum sustainable yield.

Overfished

A condition where a stock's population size is too low, jeopardizing its ability to produce maximum sustainable yield.

Rebuilt stock

A previously overfished stock that has increased in abundance to the target population size that supports maximum sustainable yield.

Sustainable fishery

A stock maintained with enough fish while minimizing impacts on habitat and the ecosystem.

Bycatch

Organisms unintentionally caught while fishing for the intended target species.

Turtle Excluder Device (TED)

A device designed to allow sea turtles to escape from fishing nets.

Release device

A feature in a fishing net that allows animals to escape after entering the net.

Avoidance device

A device, such as one producing sounds or pinging, designed to discourage animals such as dolphins from entering fishing gear.

Specialty hooks

Hooks designed to catch target fish while reducing capture of non-target animals; for example, circular hooks reduce sea turtle capture compared with J-shaped hooks.

Specialty trawl nets

Nets modified in size or structure to reduce bycatch and allow certain marine animals to escape.

Aquaculture

The rearing of marine organisms under controlled conditions; also called mariculture when conducted in marine environments.

Hardiness in aquaculture

The ability of a cultured organism to tolerate handling and changes in environmental conditions.

Monoculture

The practice of growing only one species in an aquaculture system.

Polyculture

The practice of growing multiple species within the same aquaculture system.

Chelicerata

The arthropod subphylum containing horseshoe crabs, which are not true crabs and are more closely related to spiders and scorpions.

Benthic

Associated with or living on the bottom of an aquatic environment.

Carapace

The hard brown exoskeleton covering the main body of a horseshoe crab.

Book gills

Respiratory structures on a horseshoe crab used for gas exchange.

Telson

The long tail-like structure of a horseshoe crab, by which it should never be picked up.

Bioturbator

An organism that disturbs and mixes sediment through activities such as feeding and movement.

Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL)

A blood product derived from horseshoe crabs used to detect bacterial endotoxins.

Tachypleus Amebocyte Lysate (TAL)

A horseshoe crab blood product used in the detection of bacterial endotoxins.

Bacterial endotoxins

Toxic components associated with bacteria that trigger the clotting response utilized in LAL and TAL testing.

Innate immune system

The first response of the body's immune system to harmful foreign substances; the sole defense system present in horseshoe crabs according to the lecture.

Biomedical bleeding

The procedure in which approximately $30\%$ of a horseshoe crab's blood is harvested before the surviving animal is returned to the sea; approximately $600{,}000$ crabs are bled annually with an observed mortality of about $15\%$.

Recombinant Factor C (rFC)

A synthetic alternative to horseshoe crab blood used for endotoxin detection to reduce pressure on wild populations.

Mollusca

A major animal phylum containing more than $100{,}000$ species, including bivalves, gastropods, and cephalopods.

Bivalves

Mollusks characterized by two shells, a mantle, ctenidia, siphons, and filter-feeding behavior; examples include clams, mussels, oysters, and scallops.

Ctenidium

A comb-like respiratory or gill structure found in bivalves.

Pearl

An organic gemstone composed of layers of nacre, produced inside a living shelled mollusk as a defense mechanism against an irritant.

Gastropods

Mollusks such as snails and slugs that typically possess one shell, a flattened foot, and a radula.

Radula

A toothed feeding structure characteristic of gastropods.

Operculum

A structure functioning like a door that helps certain gastropods seal the opening of their shell.

Torsion

A developmental process in gastropods involving a roughly $180^\circ$ twisting of the soft internal organs, distinct from shell coiling.

Cephalopods

Carnivorous marine mollusks with highly developed nervous systems, including octopuses, squid, cuttlefish, and nautiluses.

Tetrodotoxin

A potent neurotoxin that blocks sodium channels, thereby inhibiting action potentials and muscle responses.

Chitin

A fibrous polysaccharide that forms a primary component of the crustacean exoskeleton.

Crustaceans

Arthropods possessing a hard chitin exoskeleton, segmented bilateral body, jointed appendages, and an open circulatory system; includes crabs, lobsters, shrimp, crayfish, krill, copepods, and barnacles.

Echinodermata

An exclusively marine animal phylum meaning 'spiny skin,' characterized by adult radial symmetry, internal calcium carbonate plates, tube feet, and a water vascular system.

Water vascular system

A hydraulic network in echinoderms associated with locomotion and the operation of tube feet.

Tube feet

Small external projections in echinoderms functioning in movement and feeding.

Madreporite

A specialized skeletal structure associated with the echinoderm water vascular system.

Aristotle's lantern

A specialized, complex chewing structure used by sea urchins for grazing.

Evisceration

The defensive expulsion of internal organs exhibited by certain sea cucumbers.

Plankton

Organisms that drift with ocean currents and lack the swimming ability to strongly control their position in water.

Phytoplankton

Photosynthetic planktonic organisms that serve as primary producers in marine ecosystems.

Zooplankton

Animal and protist plankton that function as consumers within marine food webs.

Diatoms

Photosynthetic marine phytoplankton characterized by silica-based cell wall structures.

Dinoflagellates

Phytoplankton that can form harmful algal blooms and produce dangerous toxins.

Harmful algal bloom (HAB)

A rapid proliferation of algae that can cause severe ecological and environmental impacts, including toxin generation.

Saxitoxin

A neurotoxin produced by certain dinoflagellates during harmful algal blooms.

Brevetoxin

A marine toxin associated with certain dinoflagellate species and harmful algal blooms.

Coccolithophores

Photosynthetic phytoplankton characterized by calcium carbonate structures.

Copepods

Small, ecologically essential zooplankton that serve as critical prey for fish larvae and small fish.

Krill

Planktonic crustaceans that form crucial trophic links in marine food webs and serve as primary food for baleen whales.

Keystone species

A species whose impact on its ecosystem's structure and diversity is disproportionately large relative to its abundance.

Non-native species

An organism introduced outside its natural historic geographic range.

Invasive species

A non-native species that successfully establishes and spreads in a new habitat, causing ecological or economic damage.

Boolean operator AND

A search command that narrows results by requiring all specified search terms to appear together.

Boolean operator OR

A search command that broadens results by returning items containing either of the specified terms.

Boolean operator NOT

A search command that excludes items containing the specified term from the search results.

Peer review

An evaluation process where outside experts assess research prior to publication, verifying scientific validity and quality.