The cockle <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cerastoderma edule</Emphasis> at Northeast Atlantic shores: genetic signatures of glacial refugia

The cockle Cerastoderma (Cardium) edule (L.) ranges from NW Africa to northern Scandinavia. Abundance in shallow coastal sediment is often high, and it attracts commercial harvest. In this study, a complex genetic pattern has been revealed by mitochondrial DNA in 383 individuals from 19 sampling sites. Parsimony network analysis of 79 haplotypes identified two dominant central haplotypes separated by low divergence. One is characteristic for a homogenous southwestern group of populations from Africa to the British Isles. The other is characteristic for a heterogeneous northern group with a deviant Arctic population. At the entrance of the Baltic Sea, a mixture zone of the dominant haplotypes was found. The estimated population expansion time for the northern haplotype group predates that of the southwestern one, suggesting northern glacial refugia and a subsequent southern expansion of C. edule populations.     

Quantitative determination of arsenobetaine,the major water-soluble arsenical in three species of crab,using high pressure liquid chromatography and an inductively coupled argon plasma emission spectrometer as the arsenic-specific detector

The major water-soluble arsenic compound in the Alaskan king crab, the Alaskan snow crab, and the Dungeness crab was identified as arsenobetaine by HPLC/ICP analysis. This technique is suitable for the identification and quantitative determination of naturally occurring organic arsenic compounds in purified and partially purified extracts from biota.