• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.331-338
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• 2008

Monthly changes in the gonadosomatic index (GSI) and hepatosomatic index (HSI) of wild river puffer Takifugu obscurus, and water quality environment in spawning area during breeding season were investigated from March 1995 to February 1996. Monthly changes in GSI and HSI of T. obscurus, that was cultured in low salinity, were calculated. The external morphology of the gonads, germ cell differentiation during gametogenesis and the reproductive cycle with the gonad developmental phases were investigated by histological analysis. The optimum water quality environment in Ganggyung, Choongcheongnam-do, where is spawning ground of wild T. obscurus, was $15-20^{\circ}C$ (water temperature) and 0 psu (salinity). Monthly changes in the GSI in females and males reached a maximum in May, and then rapidly decreased. Therefore, it is assumed that in the natural condition the spawning period of wild T. obscurus is May to June. In females and males, it showed a negative correlationship between the GSI and HSI. The external morphology of the gonads in female and male T. obscurus, that was cultured in low salinity, is composed of a pair of saccular structure. Based on monthly changes in the GSI, it is assumed that in female T. obscurus, that was cultured in low salinity, spawn from March through May. Therefore, it showed a negative correlationship between changes in the GSI and HSI. On the whole, in females and males, it showed a similar pattern between wild and cultured T. obscurus. The reproductive cycle with the gonad developmental phases can be classified into successive five stages in females: the early growing stage, late growing stage, mature stage, ripe and spent stage, and recovery and resting stage. In males, that can be divided into successive four stages: the growing stage, mature stage, ripe and spent stage, and recovery and resting stage. In case of wild T. obscurus, the spawning period has once a year, however, those cultured in the high water temperature ($20-27^{\circ}C$) - low salinity (under 3.3 psu) condition have reproductive characteristics having possibilities of discharge of eggs and sperms year-round as a multiple spawner.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.645-653
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• 1998

Twenty seven species of pufferfishes (family Tetraoaontidae) have been examined to find their generic characters based on vertebrae and pterygiophore characters of specimens collected in 20 localities along the coast of Korea from March, 1991 to March, 1994. It was divided by 3 groups based on vertebrae number as follow : the genera Lagocephalus, Pleurancanthus, Spheoides, Arothron, Chelonoeon and Canthigaster have 17$\~$19 vertebrae, genera Ephippion, Boesemanichthys and Feroxodon have 20 vertebrae, and genus Takifugu have 19$\~$25 vertebrae, The number of vertebrae ranged from 17 to 25 with the maximum of 25 in Takifugu obscurus. The modal number of vertebrae in Lagocephalus is 17 (L. lunaris), 18 (L. inermis), and 19 (L. gloveri, L. wheeleri, L. larigatus), with the lower number more specialized. Paired neural spines appear at number of the 1st$\~$5th vertebrae in Takifugu pardalis, Takifugu obscurus and at number of the 1 st$\~$4 th vertebrae in the other species and genera. All of the species of Lagocephalus and Pleurancanthus have dorsal and ventral pterygiophores processes, and flat-shaped epural, while none of the abdominal vertebrae processes complete haemal arches. The neural and haemal spines of the last few caudal vertebrae aye shorter in Pleurancanthus than in the other genera, associated with the depressed caudal peduncle. The genus Canthigaster is distinguished the first pterygiophores of the dorsal and ventral fins is always much larger than the others genera. Based on the haemal arches and spines of the abdominal vertebrae, genus Canthigaster has different characters from the other genera of the family Tetraodontidae.

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2005

The optimum salinity and the effects of rapid salinity change on oxygen consumption and ammonia nitrogen excretion were examined in River Puffer Takifugu obscrus (total length 9.5$\pm$0.9 cm, total weight 18.7$\pm$5.4 g). Fish examined at the different transfer medium salinity (2, 12, 22 and 32 psu) after 2 months of acclimation period at each salinities. The routine metabolic rates of River puffer are shown as parabola equation, $Y=-0.0873X^2+0.6384X-0.690$ for oxygen consumption and $Y=-2.1667X^2+7.1672X+31.999$ for ammonia nitrogen excretion with the salinity medium at 2, 12. 22 and 32 psu. The oxygen consumption and ammonia nitrogen excretion of River puffer trans-ferred to the low salinity medium (2 and 12 psu) showed significantly difference in each salinities rearing groups than to salinity of 22 and 32 psu. Fish has a diurnal rhythm in relate to feeding, it was showed that the peak of oxygen consumption appeared at 3 hours after feeding and the ammonia nitrogen excretion rate reached maximum 4 hours after feeding. These results may indicate that the optimum salinity for rearing of River puffer is 22 psu based on growth and feed conversion ratio. The rapid change of medium salinity had no effects on the oxygen consumption and nitrogen excretion in River puffer based on this experiment.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.50-56
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• 2017

An antibacterial peptide was purified from an acidified gill extract of the pufferfish Takifugu pardalis. The acidified gill extract was put through a Sep-Pak C18 solid phase extraction cartridge using a stepwise gradient and divided into a flow-through (F.T.) and 60% methanol fraction (RM 60). Among the eluents, RM 60 had potent antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis KCTC 1021. RM 60 was partially purified on a cationic-exchange column (SP-5PW) by a linear gradient, and the antibacterial peptide was then further purified, using a series of cationic-exchange and $C_{18}$ reversed-phase HPLC columns. For characterization of the purified peptide, its molecular weight and amino acid sequence were analyzed by MALDI-TOF MS and Edman degradation. The molecular weight of the peptide was about 1171.6 Da. The amino acid sequence of the peptide was partially determined as: STKEKAPRKQ. A comparison of the N-terminal amino acid sequence of the purified peptide with that of other known polypeptides revealed high homology with the N-terminus of the histone H3 protein, which belongs to the histone H3 family. Thus, this peptide was designated as a puffer fish gill (PFG)-related antimicrobial peptide. This is the report to describe an antimicrobial function for the N-terminus of histone H3 of an animal species. The findings suggest that this peptide plays a significant role in the innate defense system of the pufferfish.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.23.1-23.7
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• 2016

The effects of daily feeding frequency (Exp I), water temperature (Exp II), and stocking density (Exp III) on the growth of river puffer, Takifugu obscurus, juvenile fish of 10 and 40 g in body weight were examined to develop effective techniques to produce river puffer in a non-exchange water system. In Exp I, fish were fed commercial floating feed with 45 % protein one to five times per day to apparent satiation each by hand daily for 8 weeks at $25^{\circ}C$. In both the 10- and 40-g size groups, the final body weight, daily feed consumption, and weight gain of fish fed one meal per day were significantly lower than those of fish fed five meals per day (P < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences in the final body weight, daily feed consumption, and weight gain among fish fed two, three, and five meals per day. Feed efficiency showed decreasing tendency with increasing size of fish. In Exp II, fish of 10 and 40 g in initial body weight were reared with the commercial feed at $15-30^{\circ}C$ for 8 weeks. The weight gain of fish increased with raising water temperature up to $25^{\circ}C$ and decreased drastically at $30^{\circ}C$ for both sizes. The Q10 of specific growth rate was decreased with raising water temperature from 5.04 (temperature interval, $15-20^{\circ}C$) to 0.66 ($25-30^{\circ}C$) for the 10-g fish and from 4.98 to 0.31 for the 40-g fish. In Exp III, the effect of stocking density on growth was examined with fish of 10 and 40 g in initial body weight. The final body weight for initial stocking densities of 4, 8, and $12kg/m^3$ was significantly higher than that of $20kg/m^3$ for the 10-g fish, and the final stocking density reached 10.1, 19.2, 28.7, and $39.9kg/m^3$, respectively. For the 40-g fish, the final body weight for initial stocking densities of 3 and $6kg/m^3$ was significantly higher than that of 9 and $15kg/m^3$ and the final stocking density reached 7.38, 13.5, 17.1, and $27.5kg/m^3$, respectively (P < 0.05). In both groups, weight gain tended to decrease with increasing stocking density; however, survival showed no significant difference.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.67-73
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• 2009

It was examined whether the common belief that "cultured puffer fishes do not contain tetrodotoxin (TTX)", the major lethal substance that accidently causes death in consumers of those fishes, is true in river puffer fish Takifugu obscurus. In mouse bioassay, lethal levels of toxins were detected in the ranks: gonad>liver>intestine>muscle>skin in wild puffer fish. In contrast, no mortality occurred in the mouse bioassay on cultured fish. However, there were sleepiness, sluggish behavior, and hind limb paralysis with the tissue extracts of cultured fish suggesting the presence of TTX or other similarly acting toxins. An attempt to confirm the presence of TTX in cultured fish with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was not very successful. The results suggest possible existence of TTX toxins or similarly acting toxins.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.95-103
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• 2009

To develop natural intermediate flavoring substances, optimal hydrolysis conditions and taste compounds for two step enzyme hydrolysate(TSEH) using Grass puffer(Takifugu niphobles) were investigated. The optimal conditions for TSEH method were revealed in temperature at $55^{\circ}C$ 3 hour digestion with Alcalase (pH 7.5) at the 1st step and 2 hour at $45^{\circ}C$ digestion with Flavourzyme(pH 6.0~6.5) at the 2nd step. TSEH method was superior to hot-water extraction on the aspect of yield, nitrogen contents and organoleptic taste quality such as umami and control of bitter taste formation. In taste active-components in Glass puffer TSEH, total free amino acid content was 4,502 mg%, major free amino acids were Pro, Leu, Lys, Hypro, Tau, Arg, Phe, Ala, Glu and Val in ordor. As for nucleotides, IMP(372 mg%) was the principal component and also contents of TMAO, total creatinine, and betaine were 43, 278 and 41 mg% in Glass puffer TSEH, respectively. The major inorganic ions in TSEH were Na(949 mg%), K(222 mg%), Cl(1,180 mg%) and $PO_4$(1,081 mg%).

• Proceedings of the Korean Aquaculture Society Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.37-37
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Fisheries Technology Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.231-232
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• 2000

자치어의 소화생리에 대한 연구는 담수어인 잉어, 무지개송어 등과 해산어인 넙치, 혹돔 등의 연구가 있으나 자치어 단계에 서식지의 변화가 큰 어종에 대한 연구는 전무한 실정이다. 따라서, 본 연구는 담수생활의 자어기에서 해수생활의 치어기로 전환하는 황복의 초기단계에 소화효소의 변화과정을 밝히고, 온도ㆍ염분ㆍ빛 등의 환경요인과 소화효소와의 관계를 조사하고자 한다. (중략)

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Developmental Biology Conference
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• 1998.07a
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• pp.68-69
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• 1998

정액의 ml당 정자수는 $1.13 \pm 0.34 \times 10^{10}$이었고 spermatocrit는 $64.8 \pm 1.4$였으며, 정장의 삼투질농도는 $266 \pm 2$ mOsm/kg이었다. 총 단백질 함량과 총 지질 함량은 정장에 비해 정자에서 높은 값을 보였고, glucose는 검출되지 않았다. 황복 정자를 16일간 $0 \pm 0.5 \circ C$에서 냉장보존 하였을 때, 수정률은 0-0.7%로 보존효과가 저조한 것으로 나타났다. 황복 정자의 냉동보존을 위한 희석액으로는 marine fish Ringer's solution, 동해방지제로는 5% DMSO가 적합하였으며, 이때의 수정률은 $79.3 \pm 7.5$%였다.