Delineation of blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus) nursery habitats in the north-western Gulf of Mexico.

Coevolution with predators leads to the use of low-risk habitats by many prey species, which promotes survival during early developmental phases. These nurseries are valued by conservation and management agencies because of their contributions to adult populations. However, the physical and geographic characteristics, like shallow depths and isolation from other marine habitats, that restrict access to predators and thereby reduce risk to juvenile animals can also limit scientific research. Consequently, many nursery habitats are still unidentified and understudied. Here we used gillnet monitoring from 1982 to 2018 to delineate blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus) nurseries in the north-western Gulf of Mexico and elucidated their physical, environmental and biological characteristics. Nursery habitats within estuaries (<2% of spatial area) were proximate to the Gulf of Mexico and exhibited significantly lower variability in salinity than non-nurseries. However, relative abundances of predators and prey were not significant delineators of nursery habitats. As such, food and risk may not influence juvenile blacktip habitat use as expected. Alternatively, reduced osmoregulatory stress attributed to predictable environments likely provides advantageous conditions for blacktips to develop foraging and antipredator tactics, which is vital prior to the winter migration of juvenile sharks into the Gulf of Mexico.

They Affect the Person, but for Better or Worse? Perceptions of Electroceutical Interventions for Depression Among Psychiatrists, Patients, and the Public.

Responding to reports of cases of personality change following deep brain stimulation, neuroethicists have debated the nature and ethical implications of these changes. Recently, this literature has been challenged as being overblown and therefore potentially an impediment to patients accessing needed treatment. We interviewed 16 psychiatrists, 16 patients with depression, and 16 members of the public without depression, all from the Midwestern United States, about their views on how three electroceutical interventions (deep brain stimulation, electroconvulsive therapy, and transcranial magnetic stimulation) used to treat depression might affect the self. Participants were also asked to compare the electroceuticals' effects on the self with the effects of commonly used depression treatments (psychotherapy and pharmaceuticals). Using qualitative content analysis, we found that participants' views on electroceuticals' potential effects on the self mainly focused on treatment effectiveness and side effects. Our results have implications for both theoretical discussions in neuroethics and clinical practice in psychiatry.