The garfish Belone belone represents the only valid endemic Belone species for the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern Atlantic Ocean. It shows a wide global distribution range, with a high commercial value and ecological relevance in the pelagic domain. Despite this, there needs to be more knowledge regarding the otoliths of this species, with the total absence of descriptions regarding asterisci and lapilli from Mediterranean populations and a lack of studies on the reliability of shape analysis on its sagittae. The present paper aims to provide the first main contours description of the three otoliths pairs from a Mediterranean population, providing an accurate investigation of morphology, morphometry, and intra-specific variability of sagittae, lapilli, and asterisci. Results showed (i) the absence of directional bilateral asymmetry and sexual asymmetry for the three otoliths pairs, (ii) a different morphology and morphometry of sagittae, lapilli and asterisci than those described in the literature, and (iii) an enhanced variability between sagittae morphometry and shape between the three investigated size classes. All these data confirmed the reliability of the studied species of shape analysis, showing a geographical and size-related variability of otoliths features probably related to genetics, environmental conditions, and life habits variations.

This study provides the fatty acid profile, presence of Omega 3 fatty acids (ω3FAs) and therapeutic potential of the skin of Garfish (Belone belone), a highly nutritious fish. The ω3FAs were obtained using the urea crystallization method and confirmed by UV VIS spectroscopy, HPLC, FT-IR, and NMR. Additionally, the therapeutic potential of the ω3FAs was assessed through antioxidant, antimicrobial, antibiofilm, and toxicity assays. The oil extracted from Garfish skin (GS) predominantly contains ω3FAs, palmitic acids, and oleic acids. The ω3FAs exhibit high anti-free radical activity and ferric reducing activity. It reduces nitric oxide production as well as lipid peroxidation under certain time. They also demonstrate effective antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae. The biofilm formation is efficiently reduced by ω3FAs and eradication effects on biofilm are higher at 4000 µg/mL of concentration. When tested against brine shrimp larvae, ω3FAs were found to be non-toxic. The study indicates that GS skin oil contains a significant amount of omega-3 fatty acids and has potential therapeutic benefits due to its antioxidant and antibacterial properties, without causing any toxic effects. Omega-3 fatty acids have the potential to enhance the treatment of infections caused by harmful bacteria and their biofilm formation. Further research is needed to understand how omega-3 fatty acids work to kill bacteria and how they affect bacterial gene expression.

BACKGROUND: Garfish, (Belone belone) is a migratory pelagic fish that inhabits the waters of coastal Europe, North Africa, the North Sea, the Mediterranean Sea. Little information about garfish has been disseminated mainly because of its low abundance and its brief occurrence in various water bodies. Data is lacking on mercury compounds, particularly dangerous the toxic organic form of methylmercury (MeHg), which endangers the health of fish and their consumers.
METHODS: The research material was garfish caught off the southern Baltic Sea coast in Puck Bay during the spawning period. Total mercury (THg) content was assayed with the cold vapour atomic absorption method in an AMA 254 mercury analyser. The MeHg extraction procedure was based on three-step sequential extraction method: hydrolysis using of hydrochloric acid, extract by toluene, bind the MeHg by L-cysteine.
RESULTS: The concentrations of THg and MeHg was determined in the muscle of garfish. The highest concentrations of THg (0.210 mg kg-1) and MeHg (0154 mg kg-1) were detected in the longest specimens (80 cm). The THg and MeHg concentrations in garfish muscles increased with specimens length, weight and age, which was confirmed by positive correlations. Differences were also noted depending on sex. Males accumulated more THg and MeHg than did females. The mercury in garfish from the southern Baltic Sea occurred mainly in its organic form MeHg and accounted for 84.7% of the THg.
CONCLUSIONS: Significant differences were noted in mercury concentrations depends on length, weight, age and sex. Concentration of MeHg in garfish must be done by length class, and fish sex when selecting this fish for contamination studies and risk assessment. The toxic MeHg in garfish tissues did not pose a threat to the health of consumers, as indicated by the low values of EDI, TWI and THQ indices.

UNASSIGNED: The morphometric and meristic variations of Xenentodon cancila was studied based on the landmark-based truss network system to assess their phenotypic variations among four different freshwater stocks, viz. Boluhorpur baor, Jhenaidah (BBJ) (n = 29); Bhairab River, Jashore (BRJ) (n = 34); Arial Khan River, Madaripur (AKRM) (n = 28), and Bohnni baor, Gopalganj (BBG) (n = 25) in Bangladesh.
UNASSIGNED: Seven meristic characters were counted by using a needle. Eight morphometrics and 28 truss measurements were measured by using tpsDigV.2.1 software. In meristic characters, Kruskal-Wallis test was performed to determine any significant differences, whereas, in morphometrics and truss measurements, univariate statistics and discriminant function analyses were carried out by using SPSS 22 version.
UNASSIGNED: Significant differences were observed in four meristic characters among seven meristic characters in the Kruskal-Wallis test. In univariate statistics, only nine characters were observed significantly different among eight morphometrics and 28 truss measurements. The contribution of three discriminant function analyses (DFA), in which first DFA showed 49.2%, second DFA showed 33%, and third DFA showed 17.8% on behalf of both morphometric and truss measurements. In discriminant space, the four stocks were clearly separated. Two clusters were formed among four stocks, where BBG formed a single cluster, whereas BBJ and BRJ aggregately formed another cluster. Additionally, AKRM formed a sub-cluster with BBJ.
UNASSIGNED: The preliminary information generated from the current study would be beneficial for further genetic studies and in the assessment of ecological impacts on X. cancila stocks in Bangladesh.

A total of 35 common garfish, Belone belone (Linnaeus, 1761), were studied for metazoan parasites on their spawning grounds in the western Baltic Sea. Nine parasite species were found, and six new locality records could be established for German coastal waters (Axine belones, Monogenea; Proteocephalus sp., Cestoda; Anisakis simplex (s.s.), Contracaecum rudolphii A and Hysterothylacium aduncum, Nematoda; Echinorhynchus gadi, Acanthocephala). For the first time, the marine ectoparasite A. belones was recorded from the gills of garfish inside the Baltic Sea, indicating its ability to survive the spawning migration as well as the brackish water conditions at its reproduction grounds. This is alike the endohelminth A. simplex (s.s.), that was identified by molecular analyses of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS-1, 5.8S, ITS-2) region. Almost all isolated metazoans were parasites commonly recorded from the northeast Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. The lower number of typical generalist Baltic Sea parasites indicates the rapid migration of common garfish onto the spawning grounds, reducing the access and uptake of these species.