• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.277-281
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• 2005

This study was carried out to investigate the antioxidant effects of melanin extracts, including silkie fowl skin melanin (SS-melanin), silkie fowl comb melanin (SC-melanin), sepia ink sac melanin (SE-melanin), octopus ink sac melanin (OC-melanin) and synthetic melanin (SY-melanin). The results showed that with the addition of melanin extracts, linoleic acid peroxide significantly, decreased (p<0.05) with the increase in the irradiative time of UV and that OC-melanin had the highest efficiency on antioxidant activity (p<0.05). Melanin extract had reducing power and chelating power to $Fe^{2+}$, which increased with the increase in the different melanin concentration. Therefore, it could be concluded that the antioxidant action of melanin extracts did not come from one single function, but is a result of many characteristic functions.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.135-140
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• 2006

The small octopus(Octopus minor), a species in the cephalopod class spawns the fewer eggs compared with its relatives such as Octopus vulgaris and Octopus ocellatus and exerts special efforts in nursing eggs hiding in the deep cave beneath the mud flat. Correspondingly, its embryogenic process had been hardly observed. In this study, we induced the small octopus to spawn its eggs in the artificial spawning tube and to nurse the developing embryos under the periodical observation. The early embryogenic change in the fertilized eggs was appearance of blastodisc on the animal pole at 4 days after spawning. A mass of rudiments of several organs developed in the middle of the yolk sac at 28-th day and it moved gradually toward the animal pole. At 38 days after spawning, two eyes appeared on the head and the trunk with heart developed on the apical part of the yolk sac. At 45-th day of embryonic development, the trunk and head occupied a half of the egg capsule and consequently the yolk sac was reduced to a half of its original size. Two eyes became prominent at the bottom of the trunk with several spots at day 60. Embryonic development was completed at about 80 days after spawning and the arms stuffed the lower half of egg capsule. The young fry squeezed out of the egg capsules with their long and slender arms first and mantles later. Soon after hatching, it swam actively and squirted ink.