The spatial distribution, partitioning, and time trends of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) were investigated in the water column and bottom sediment of Tokyo Bay, Japan, during 2004-2006. A total of 480 water and 60 sediment samples obtained by regular 20-station samplings ascertained the three-dimensional distributions of these compounds and changes in the seawater structure in the whole bay. The median of volume-based average water-borne concentrations of PFOS and PFOA was 3.7 and 12 ng/L, respectively. The median concentrations in sediment were 0.61 (PFOS) and 0.20 (PFOA) ng/g-dry. Vertical mixing of the water column probably affected the vertical distribution of these compounds. The negative correlations between PFOS and PFOA concentrations and water salinity and the horizontal distributions of their concentrations suggested that freshwater inputs into the bay were the source of these compounds. A mixing model estimated the average PFOS concentration in the freshwater inputs to be 29 ng/L. The common logarithm of the partition coefficients between the dissolved and suspended-particle-sorbed phases varied among samples, with the average of 4.2 (PFOS) and 3.5 (PFOA). Our analyses indicated no apparent time trends in the concentrations of these compounds during 2004-2006 in either the freshwater input or the bay.

Abstract. The Kuroshio Current has been thought to be biologically unproductive because of its oligotrophic conditions and low plankton standing stocks. Even though vulnerable life stages of major foraging fishes risk being entrapped by frontal eddies and meanders and encountering low food availability, they have life cycle strategies that include growing and recruiting around the Kuroshio Current. Here we report that phytoplankton growth and consumption by microzooplankton are stimulated by turbulent nitrate flux amplified by the Kuroshio Current. Oceanographic observations demonstrate that the Kuroshio Current topographically enhances significant turbulent mixing and nitrate influx to the euphotic zone. Graduated nutrient enrichment experiments show that growth rates of phytoplankton and microheterotroph communities were stimulated within the range of the turbulent nitrate flux. Results of dilution experiments imply significant microzooplankton grazing on phytoplankton. We propose that these rapid and systematic trophodynamics enhance biological productivity in the Kuroshio.

The seasonal distribution, age, growth and reproductive biology of marbled sole Pleuronectes yokohamae (Günther) from Tokyo Bay, Japan were studied. A clear seasonal distribution trend was observed, with P. yokohamae limited to the south of the bay in summer and expanding almost throughout the bay in other seasons. The formation and dynamics of hypoxic areas in the bay limited the northward distribution of P. yokohamae in summer. Age was determined by counting growth rings on otoliths; maximum ages were found to be 5 years for males and 6 years for females. The mean back-calculated length for females at each estimated age was greater than that for males. Growth of males and females was shown by the von Bertalanffy growth equations. Reproductive biology was studied on the basis of gonadosomatic indices and histological sections of gonads. The spawning season lasted from November to March, peaking in December and January. Sixty per cent of males at 1 year and all males ≥ 2 years had mature testes, whereas 6.7% of females at 1 year, 58.3% of females at 2 years, and all females ≥ 3 years had attained maturity.

Size at sexual maturity, reproductive cycle,

Bottom hypoxia is considered to be one of the factors affecting the recent stock decline of the mantis shrimp Oratosquilla oratoria in Tokyo Bay, Japan. We used field surveys of the bay to investigate the spatiotemporal pattern of bottom hypoxia and the early life history of O. oratoria, and we examined the effects of bottom hypoxia on early life history by nonparametric analyses. Bottom hypoxia in Tokyo Bay began to appear in April, occupied more than half (55 to 67%) of the whole bay area in July and August, and disappeared from November onward. Newly settled juveniles appeared in September-October in the northeastern shallow coastal area, where the hypoxic bottom water had disappeared. After the hypoxia had abated, the distribution of juveniles expanded to the southcentral deep area. Classification and regression tree analysis showed that the threshold level of bottom dissolved oxygen concentration for the existence of juveniles was 2.78 ml l -1 , implying that hypoxia restricted the spatial distribution of juveniles. A generalized additive model showed that sampling date, bottom dissolved oxygen concentration, depth, latitude, and longitude had significant effects on the occurrence of juveniles, suggesting an adverse effect of hypoxia on the time and location of settlement of O. oratoria. Our results suggest that hypoxia is directly and/or indirectly associated with mass-mortality events during early life history.

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