Although most otoliths of teleost fishes contain aragonite, a detailed survey of the otoliths of serveral species confirms that other crystalline forms of calcium carbonate occur. Otoliths of Hoplostethus atlanticus, Pagrus major, Macruronus novaezelandiae, Merluccius australis, Congiopodus coriaceus, Kathetostoma giganteum, Argentina elongata, Rhomobosolea tapirina, Neophrynichthys latus, Coelorinchus aspercephalus, Paranothothenia microlepidota, and Gonorhynchus gonorhynchus contained the aragonite, calcite, and vaterite morphs of calcium carbonate in varying proportions. Aragonitic otoliths of Allocyttus niger, Hoplostethus altlanticus, and Pagrus major contained sequences of calcite-like crystals. The surface of the vateritic otolith of Acipenser brevirostrum is shown in detail. Three classes of information are stored in the crystalline structure of the otolith: shape conservation, coexisting crystal morphs, and consecutive changes in crystal morph. Analysis of this crystalline information supports the hypothesis of control of growth of the otolith by proteins from the sensory epithelium or macula. Protein variation involved may be genetic in origin, or non-genetic arising from "stuttering" of the translation process. Proteins extracted from vateric and aragonitic morphs of the otolith of Macruronus novaezelandiae showed differences in infared absorption spectra that were consistent with two different amino acid sequences. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).Traditional descriptions of multiphase flow in porous media rely on an extension of Darcy's law along with relationships between capillary pressure (P c ), saturation (S), and relative permeability (K r ). New theories have been proposed which suggest that P c relationships should include a dynamic coefficient (s) (Hassanizadeh and Gray, Water Resour Res. 1993;29:3389-3405) to indicate how ''quickly'' or ''slowly'' flow equilibrium is reached. While validity of these theories must be examined, it is also necessary to determine the significance of s and its range of values. In this article, we analyze the significance of s depending on fluid properties. We address the ways in which they cause nonuniqueness of dynamic two-phase flow in porous media and, hence, dynamic effect. Simulations are conducted for quasi-static and dynamic flow of perchloroethylene (PCE) in water saturated domains. The data are then fitted to the dynamic P c relationships to obtain values of s. The effects of flow directions and, viscosity and density ratios are discussed. To consider the lumped effects of various fluid properties, s-S relationships are examined for silicone oils. The results are interpreted by examining the correlation between s and a mobility coefficient, m. We discuss a scaling relationship that shows the dependence of s on fluid and material properties.The viscosity ratio has practically no effect on quasi-static P c -S relationships and only one P c -S curve is plotted.

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Variation in otolith shape (otolith polymorphism) in Hoplostethus atlanticus, Hoplostethus mediterraneus, Paratrichichthys trailli, Pagrus major and Trachurus murphyi, quantified using principal components analysis based on Fourier transform decompositions of outlines of otolith shape, was particularly high among the samples of H. atlanticus from the North Atlantic, New Zealand, Australia and Namibia. The scatter was uniform, however, and did not show any significant differences among regions. The implication drawn from the high variability in otolith shape of H. atlanticus was that otolith shape polymorphism was maintained by some form of balancing selection across many small local environments which may result in k-selection with consequent poor response by H. atlanticus to maximum sustainable yield harvesting strategies. The variation in otolith shape defined by the otolith morphospace of the five species that were measured, showed a decreasing trend in scatter (i.e. decreasing complexity of shape) proceeding from the species with the deepest habitat (H. atlanticus) to the most shallow (T. murphyi).