The majority of trawl selectivity studies for the three redfish species of particular commercial importance in North Atlantic fisheries: Sebastes marinus, Sebastes mentella and Sebastes fasciatus, are based on data collected from diamond mesh codends with mesh sizes ranging from 88 mm to 147 mm. We demonstrate how results from these studies can be understood by morphological characteristics of the species. We predict codend size selection based on morphological data collected from golden redfish (S. marinus) individuals. Further, consistent with previously reported morphological similarities between the three redfish species, we show the predictions for S. marinus may successfully be extrapolated to understand experimental codend size selectivity results reported for S. mentella and S. fasciatus. In addition to the comparison with previously reported data, we present new experimental results for a codend applied in Northeast Atlantic redfish trawl fishery.

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To determine the effect of environmental factors on the preservation of DNA, archeological teeth of approximately similar age but greatly differing site milieu were examined for DNA content. The complex relational system of locational milieu of the samples was reduced to its essential and, at the same time, easily measurable factors. These are temperature, humidity, pH value, the geochemical properties of the soil, the amount of postmortal organic substances and the general degree of microbial infestation in the respective soil. The relative DNA content in the samples was established by determining the rate of successful polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplifications. Differences in quantity and quality of the results are attributed to the respective prevailing environmental factor or to the respective storage conditions. Dryness, low temperature and absence of microorganisms favors the preservation of DNA. The bioapatite of bones and teeth, like the DNA, are preserved under neutral or slightly alkaline conditions. Brief storage at room temperature does not affect the amount of amplifiable DNA but does affect the reproducibility of the results. Long storage outside a lab freezer reduces the amount and the reproducibility of DNA amplifications in ancient specimens.

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