• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.54-61
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• 2000

Feeding habits of Zoarces gilli collected in the coastal water off Gadeok-do, Korea from March 1998 to February 1999 were studied. Z. gilli was a carnivore and consumed mainly shrimps, gammarid amphipods, fishes, bivalves and cumaceans. Its diets also included small quantities of copepods, caprellid amphipods, ostracods, crabs, squids, gastropods, ophiuroids and polychaetes. It showed ontogenetic changes in feeding habits. Individuals of small size (10~15 cmSL) fed mainly on small prey organisms such as gammarid amphipods, bivalves, cumaceans and ostracods. However, larger shrimps and fishes were heavily selected with increasing fish size.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.129-134
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• 2014

Two neuropeptides were purified from the acidified tube feet extract of the starfish Asterias amurensis by C18 reversed phase and size-exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The tube feet extract and the purified peptides (AST-I and AST-II) showed potent contractile activity on dorsal retractor muscle (DRM) of the starfish Asterina pectinifera and intestine (smooth muscle) of the panther puffer Takifugu pardalis. Treatment of the purified peptides with dithiothreitol (DTT) for 60 min at $37^{\circ}C$ significantly altered their retention times, suggesting that these compounds contained disulfide bonds. The molecular weights of AST-I and AST-II were determined to be 2064.2 Da and 6137.2 Da, respectively, by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.122-128
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• 2014

The present study was performed to examine the contraction and relaxation responses of the smooth muscles, and search for antimicrobial and antioxidant activities in the tissues, of the starfish Asterina pectinifera. Frozen samples were extracted with distilled water containing 1% acetic acid. Extracts from all tissues showed potent antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli D31. Relatively high levels of antimicrobial activity were also detected in the body extracts. Liver, tube feet, and body extracts caused contraction responses in the dorsal retractor muscles (DRM) of the starfish. In contrast, all tissues examined exhibited contractile activity in the esophagus of squid Todarodes pacificus. In addition, liver and gonad extracts caused contraction responses upon application to the intestine of the puffer fish Takifugu pardalis. Relaxation effects on the DRM of starfish were identified in most of the extracts, while no relaxant activity was detected in body extracts. Extracts from all tissues examined also exhibited antioxidant activities. The results of this study suggest that starfish are a potential source of novel bioactive compounds.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.172-176
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• 2006

Fe(III)-Coated Star Fish (ICSF) was prepared by reaction of calcined Star Fish (SF) with Fe(III) solution at an elevated temperature. To investigate the stability of ICSF at acidic condition, dissolution of Fe was studied at pH 2 as a function of time. Extracted iron was negligible over the entire reaction time. This stability test suggests the applicability of ICSF in the treatment of wastewater even at low pH. Adsorption capacity of Cu(II) onto SF and ICSF was investigated in a batch and a column test. In the pH-edge adsorption, adsorption of copper onto SF and ICSF was quite similar over the entire pH range due to the presence of an important amount of Fe in SF itself. From the adsorption isotherm obtained with variation of the concentration of Cu(II), ICSF showed 1.6 times greater adsorption capacity than SF. Also, ICSF showed a greater removal capacity of Cu(II) in the column test.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.237-240
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• 2006

Seventy-one marine bacteria decomposing sea tangle (Laminaria japonica) into single cell detritus (SCD) were isolated from sea water, sea tangle, sea mustard (Undaria pinnatifida), sea urchin (Anthocidaris crassispina), star fish (Acanthaster planci), and turban cell (Batillus cornutus), among which 14 strains decreased cutting strength of sea tangle and had alginate-degrading activity. Marine bacterium No. 34 isolated from turban cell showed lowest cutting strength of sea tangle, strongest alginate-degrading activity, and produced high content of $5-10\;{\mu}m$ SCD from sea tangle. This strain was identified as Vibrio sp. based on morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics and named as Vibrio sp. YKW-34.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.978-985
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• 2012

Starfish are a critical problem for fishermen since they eat every farming product including shellfish. The number of starfish is increasing dramatically because they have no natural enemy underwater. We consider the concept of capturing starfish using a semi-autonomous robot. A new underwater robot design to capture starfish is proposed using cooperation between humans and the robot. A requirements list for the robot is developed and two conceptual designs are proposed. Each robot is designed as a modular platform. The kinematic and dynamic performance of each robot is analyzed and compared. This study is a starting point for developing a starfish capture robot and designing underwater robots for other applications. In the near future, a prototype will be assembled and tested in a marine environment.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.681-687
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• 2004

This study was focused on the manufacturing method of a dewatering aid, which would reduce the water content of the sludge cake by enhancing the dewaterability of sewage sludge. The pretreatment technology for sludge by using radiation and among diverse discarded resources were starfish selected as the material to manufacture the dewatering aid. Starfish went through the process of washing, drying, and pulverizing. The starfish powder made in this process was applied to the digested sludge generated at the sewage treatment plant of D City, and its effects were investigated. The starfish powder that was 300 ${\mu}m$ in particle size was added to the irradiated digested sludge. After the application of the condensation process, the sludge with the starfish powder added was dewatered using the belt press and centrifuge, which were the traditional pressure dewatering devices. As the result, it reduced the water content of the sludge 20% higher than the dewatered cake with no dewatering aid added and irradiation. When the powder was added, it contributed to less use of the coagulant added. The more irradiation dose, the lower water content did the dewatered cake have and the more coagulant was needed for condensation, which seems to be a disadvantage that can be compensated for by the starfish dewatering aid. A small-scaled treatment of the study to a radiation technology and dewatering aid using a discarded resource confirmed the potential of dewaterability. Based on the results saying that the dewatering aid and radiation technology can improve dewatering effects using the traditional dewatering devices, this pretreatment technology will be expected to be applied to sewage treatment plants.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.165-170
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• 2015

The presence of predators (excluding starfishes) of disk abalone, Haliotis discus hannai was directly investigated by nine SCUBA divings during February-December 2014 at the coastal areas of Yangjeong, Jukjin and Bongpyeong, Uljin, Korea, where the young disk abalone seedlings were artificially released. The results revealed that a total of six individuals of Neptunea cumingii that were feeding on the young disk abalone were observed within the water depth 10m at the coastal area of Jukjin, of which bottom substrate consists of the relatively high composition rate of rocks (60.3%). Though N. cumingii is well known as a carnivorous predator of diverse marine invertebrates such as live mussels (Mytilus spp.) it is the first report that this predator also feeds on the disk abalones. Thus, our results strongly suggest that the future artificial release projects around Korean coasts necessitate extermination works of predators including newly observed N. cumingii in this study as well as previously known starfishes prior to the releases of young Pacific abalone seedlings.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.77-83
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• 2012

The feeding habits of the marbled flounder Pleuronectes yokohamae were studied using 395 specimens collected from January to December, 2010, in the coastal waters off Tongyeong, Korea. The size of P. yokohamae ranged from 10.5 to 38.8 cm in standard length (SL). P. yokohamae is a bottom-feeding carnivore that consumes mainly bivalves, amphipods and polychaetes. Its diet also includes small quantities nemertians, anthozoan, isopods, copepods, tanaidacean, shrimps, crabs and ophiuroids. Our feeding-strategy graphical method reveled that P. yokohamae was a generalized feeder, with a wide niche width. P. yokohamae mainly consumed bivalves, amphipods and polychaetes, and did not show significant ontogenetic changes in feeding habit without size over 22 cm. Prey size did not increase significantly as growing fish size.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.469-477
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• 2004

This study examined distributional patterns of Asterias amurensis in Tongyeong, the central South Sea of Korea. The density of the sea star was estimated at 10 chosen sites in the inner and the outer parts of the Tongyeong coast from December 2000. The mean density of the species in this area was $2.4ind./m^{2}$. The seasonal surveys conducted at 3 arbitrary chosen sites (i.e., sea cage, reef and soft sediment) also showed that the abundance of the species at the sea cage site $(density:\;3.6\;ind./m^{2};\;biomass:\;250.7\;gwwt/m^{2})$ was significantly higher than at the reef site $(density:\;1.7\;ind./m^{2};\;biomass:\;63.5\;gwwt/m^{2})$ and the soft sediment site $(density:\;0.4\;ind./m^{2};\;biomass:\;18.9\;gwwt/m^{2})$. Densities were higher at sea cages areas than at reefs and soft bottom sites. At sea cage site, A. amurensis population exhibited a strong aggregated distributional pattern. In contrast, at reef and soft bottom sites, A. amurensis population showed a random distributional pattern. The spatial difference in prey species and its abundance was the primary factor determining the spatial heterogeneity of the sea star in its behavior characteristics. Experiments on the feeding preference indicated that A. amurensis had a strong selectivity on its prey, but this selectivity varied between populations living in different sites. In particular, A. amurensis populations at the reef site showed a strong selectivity on various sessile and mobile animals living in reef areas, suggesting that these animal groups may play a role as "windows for the survival of A. amurensis". These results suggest that the distribution of A. amurensis in Tongyeong is closely associated with abundance of prey species and the bottom composition.