The last of these

factors is now of minor importance, and hence any distribution of salinity is controlled by the other factors. Figure 5 illustrates the long-term variation of surface salinity in the coastal water of the study area during 1964–2008. As mentioned earlier, in 1964, the river discharge was the greatest since 1956, and the surface salinity was very low (26.675 PSU). From 1966 onwards, a considerable decrease in freshwater discharge was recorded and a remarkable increase in salinity Target Selective Inhibitor Library screening was observed. The salinity increased from 28.309 PSU in 1966 to around 38 PSU in the 1970s and reached more than 39 PSU in 2008. The following are the main characteristics of Atlantic Water, observed along the Egyptian Mediterranean coast, deduced from an analysis of the horizontal and vertical distributions of these characteristics in winter and summer. In winter, the surface water temperature varied between 16.6 and 18.5°C, with slightly colder or warmer spots (Figure 6a). There is a general tendency for temperature to increase eastwards, with the lowest values (16.6–16.8°C) observed at longitudes between 26° and 30°E and latitudes 32–33°N, while the highest values are confined

to the eastern part of the study area. A region of water temperature > 18.0°C AZD4547 clinical trial is observed at the offshore stations between longitudes 31°30′ and 32°30′E and latitudes 32–33°N (Figure 6a). The surface salinity changes between 38.60 and 39.30 PSU, with a generally increasing eastward trend (Figure 6b). The most prominent feature of the salinity distribution at the surface is the presence of a nucleus of salinity > 39.00 PSU that lies between longitudes 27 and 29°E. This nucleus is characterized by low temperature (16.6°C) and high density 28.7 σt ( Figure 6c). The above feature coincides with the location of the well-recognized gyre known

as the Mersa Matruh gyre. This gyre is one of several find more such sub-basin scale gyres interconnected by intense jets and meandering currents that were established long ago in the south-eastern Levantine basin by the POEM Group (1992). The Mersa Matruh gyre has been given different names such as the ‘Egyptian anticyclonic gyre’ by Said, 1984 and Said, 1990, ‘The Egypt high’ by Brenner (1989) and the ‘Mersa Matruh gyre’ by Özsoy et al. (1989). The Mersa Matruh gyre is characterized by an anticyclonic circulation from the surface to 500 m depth during the winter and summer seasons (Said & Eid 1994b). The gyre splits into two centres at 50 and 100 m. Below these levels, the gyre intensifies and splits into multiple centres. The eddy centres are shifted horizontally with depth. At 500 m depth, the gyre could be observed during both seasons. These features were also observed by Eid & Said (1995) in their work on the circulation off the Egyptian coast as deduced from steric height distributions.

He recorded them with the words “the Porpoises here are as white as Milke, some of them Ruddy with all” and which older individuals certainly are. The species was not, however, described until 1765 by Pehr Osbeck (1723–1805) Buparlisib a Swedish explorer, naturalist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778). Being an estuarine coastal species, concern for the welfare of

Hong Kong’s population of the dolphins grew in the early 1990s as the Pearl River Delta became the principal artery for maritime trade between Hong Kong, Macau, Canton (now Guangzhou) in China, and as more individuals were killed and stranded. It is, today, estimated that fewer than 140 individuals survive in the polluted, over-fished and maritime trade waters of Hong Kong’s western territory – the type locality of the species. In 2011, I was incredibly lucky to glimpse the, also as Ruddy with all, Amazon (although it also occurs in the Orinoco) river dolphin, Inia geoffrensis, and which is now protected under Brazilian law as a national treasure. Again, spellbound. I do not go to performing dolphin or killer whale (Orcinus orca)

shows but I did once, again on a research trip, visit Monkey Mia in the Shark Bay National Park and World Heritage Site in Western Australia to see the famously ‘tame’ but still wild dolphins there. These are a group of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) that, every morning, come close Nivolumab in vitro inshore to be fed by park wardens to the enjoyment of the hundreds of thousands of tourists who come each year to watch and learn a little. Early problems involved in allowing the public to

feed the animals, resulted in mothers not teaching their calves to catch fish for themselves, and dying before being weaned. Org 27569 Today, however, many lessons learnt, research on the dolphins, encompassing thousands of hours of systematic data collection in the field, makes Monkey Mia one of the most important cetacean research centres in the world. Hundreds of dolphins are surveyed and cataloged each year. Their behaviour, ecology, genetics, development, communication, social structure, predators, and prey are all researched and, what is more, this is all accomplished non-invasively, without tagging, touching or capturing the dolphins. And the public love it too. Hence, in a long career as a marine biologist, I have seen many species of dolphins in the wild, some protected, some not, some endangered and others, apparently, enjoying contact with human beings. They share a close historical bond with us and live on in our human psyche to such an extent that ‘wish list’ surveys regularly put swimming with them close to the top. The ancient Greeks and Romans revered dolphins. Both cultures had stories of a boy and a dolphin.