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Twenty five individuals of Javelin grunter, Pomadasys kaakan, collected from Abadan (29° N and 48° E) and Bandar Abbas (27° N and 56° E) stations along the Persian Gulf, was analyzed for relationship between two populations of this species, using Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP). A total of 410 putative loci were detected by six primer combinations, 88 of which were polymorphic (21.46%). The proportion of polymorphic loci in the Abadan and Bandar Abbas stations was calculated 88.64 and 68.18%, respectively. Average of heterozygosity in the Abadan (0.330) was higher than Bandar Abbas (0.222), which may be correlated with the environmental and ecological conditions of these stations. Nei’s genetic distance for the two populations was estimated 0.112. The phylogenetic tree revealed a clear distinction line between the two populations, supporting that dispersal of eggs and larvae in the Persian Gulf is spatially restricted. Pattern of isolation by distance was observed in this species, indicating that the gene pool of P. kaakan in the Persian Gulf was not homogeneous. The results also showed that AFLP is a potent technique for genetic fingerprinting and species identification.

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The turbulent region of the Persian Gulf and West Asia, as well as the Horn of Africa, has always been at risk of establishing security due to political and social turmoil and sometimes long and erosive wars. While in today's world, security is still one of the most important goods that can be supported by stability and progress. Iran and Saudi Arabia, as the two main powers in the Persian Gulf and influential powers in the Horn of Africa, can play a pivotal role in creating regional security. Security cooperation between Iran and Saudi Arabia can be expanded on various aspects, from the field of shipping, energy, and the fight against smuggling to cooperation on areas of influence. Having said that, the basic question is raised, what are the challenges and obstacles of security cooperation between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf and Horn of Africa? The temporary answer to this question is as follows: The acting of the United States of America in the Persian Gulf, the lack of common understanding regarding security issues, geopolitical differences and cultural-religious differences and the lack of understanding over the area of ​​influence are the challenges and obstacles to the security cooperation between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf and Horn of Africa. The research method in this article is descriptive-analytical and in order to collect data and information, library and internet sources have been used. Based on the findings of this research, de-threats from Shiite Islam and confronting Iranophobia, technical and economic cooperation and finding a framework for cooperation on regional issues can be considered as solutions to realize security cooperation between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

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Mercury levels in hepatopancreas, muscle and exoskeleton tissues of male and female green tiger prawn, P.semisulcatus, from the Persian Gulf were compared. Significantly higher levels (p<0.05) of mercury in female prawn and hepatopancreas tissue were encountered (p<0.05). Significantly higher concentration (p<0.05) of the mercury was also observed in summer than in winter season. This variation could result in internal biological cycle of the organism or variation in bioavailability of mercury in environment.

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The zooplankton diversity of Helleh estuary, Busheher, Persian Gulf, and its relationship with some characteristics of water quality was investigated. Samples were taken using plankton net (mesh size of 140 µm) with vertical towing from 5 fixed-stations in mid-season from summer 2011 to spring 2012 for one year period. The mean (±SE) of biodiversity indices of Simpson, Shannon-Wiener, and Margalef were, respectively 0.84±0.10, 3.01±0.20, and 1.90±0.10 in summer; 0.63±0.06, 2.20±0.20 and 1.87±0.08 in autumn; 0.73±0.04, 2.22±0.10 and 1.43±0.10 in winter; and 0.87±0.01, 3.44±0.30, and 2.38±0.30 in spring. The seasonal zooplankton similarity based on Jaccard’s and Sørensen’s coefficients were highest (0.61 and 0.76) for summer-autumn, 0.56 and 0.72 for autumn-spring while these value were lowest for winter-autumn (0.27 and 0.43) and spring-winter (0.30 and 0.47). In addition, there were significant correlation between zooplankton density with salinity, dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll a, Simpson and Shannon- Wiener with temperature, and Margalef with pH.

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The Persian Gulf region is one of the strategic and important regions in the world which has always attracted the attention of regional and trans-regional powers. In the contemporary world, the Persian Gulf region and the countries of the Southwest Asia region have been among the most challenging and controversial regions in the world. This region has been the hotbed of geopolitical crises and the site of ideological conflicts and the active hotspot of political and regional crises. In addition to the domestic context, the presence and involvement of trans-regional and global powers in activating and intensifying these challenges and crises have played a very crucial role. Although the macro-structures of the global geopolitical system have overshadowed this space, the powers within the region (the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia) have played a leading role in shaping the geopolitical atmosphere of the current situation, which is based on ideological and geopolitical values. The current study seeks to examine the ideological and geopolitical implications of Iran and Saudi Arabia for the region and the need to adopt a geo-economic strategy to overcome intra-regional geopolitical challenges. The results show that the adoption of a geo-economic strategy by Iran and Saudi Arabia can pave the way for a dialogue of cooperation and convergence and pave the way for entering a new regional geopolitical system for regional development and regionalism.

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This research aims to survey the cultural status of clubs in the Persian Gulf Pro League. This research is a type of grounded theory research. The present study is of applied type. In terms of location, the scope of the research included all the professional football league clubs across the country. All interviewees were chosen voluntarily and purposefully. Sampling was done with the snowball technique, and a total of 25 elite football players were interviewed in depth—the data analysis process was based on the Strauss-Corbin model. Then, MAXQDA12 software was used for qualitative analysis of the interviews. Results showed that the current cultural status of the clubs is in the very bad category, and more work should be done to improve it in the future. Also, regarding the solutions to enhance the cultural status of the clubs, the following answers were found, which are: strengthening and reforming the management process, providing information and proper education and training, correct planning and legislation and its strict implementation, exercising supervision and control, distance From materialism and result orientation, using authentic Iranian Islamic culture, increasing budget and facilities, using domestic and foreign experiences, professionalism and updating football, helping to solve the general and contextual problems of society and establishing communication between different classes. Therefore, by implementing these solutions for Iranian football clubs, we can try to improve the cultural level of the clubs at least at the same level as their technical level and display a worthy and dignified culture of Islam and Iran in the region and the world.

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The rivalry between China and the United States in the new century is one of the most important drivers of geopolitical rivalries at various regional and trans regional levels. China is considered one of the great powers that has the potential to become a superpower and challenge the current position of the United States, something that has worried US strategists and officials. As a result, in the second decade of the 21st century, the United States shifted the focus of its national security strategy from the Middle East to East Asia in order to counter this potential threat. With the withdrawal or diminishing presence of the US presence in the region, traditional US allies such as Israel and Arab countries are afraid of expanding the sphere of influence of their geopolitical rivals, namely Iran and Turkey, and given the historical experiences of the region and Iran's geopolitical influence in the current situation, these countries have been forced to cooperate bilaterally and multilaterally. Israel has traditionally chosen the Peripheral Alliance strategy as a complement to its national security strategy. Given the possibility of a reduction in military forces in the Middle East, the Arab-Israeli agreement in the form of the Abraham Accords Peace Agreement seems to represent a new Rimland with the aim of controlling and limiting the geopolitical influence of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Using the descriptive-analytical method and based on library and Internet resources, tries to provide a geopolitical explanation of the Abrahamic Accords in terms of its effects and consequences on regional relations in the Persian Gulf and especially the goals and interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The results show that if the project is implemented, we can expect the emergence of a new regional Rimland with the aim of controlling and weakening Iran.

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The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the mediating role of e-satisfaction in the relationship between the quality of e-services and repeat visits of football fans to the Persepolis club website. The statistical population of the research was formed by the fans of Persepolis Cultural Sports Football Club, and a total of 215 acceptable samples were collected. The measurement tool was a standardized questionnaire with modifications by the researchers. The content and form validity of the questionnaire was checked by 3 sports management professors and after the requested amendments, it was distributed among the studied community. Reliability, convergent validity and Discriminant validity indicated the desirability of the external model of the research, and the value of SRMR equal to 0.08 confirmed the suitability of the model. The findings of the research showed that the quality of the website's electronic services had a direct effect on satisfaction and the intention to revisit (P<0.05). Also, e-satisfaction had a partial mediating role between the quality of sports websites and revisit intention (P< 0.05). The results indicate that the higher the service quality of the website, the higher the electronic satisfaction and the desire of the fans to return to the Persepolis team website.
 

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The effects of mucal proteins of sea anemone, Stichodactylahaddoni,on different stages of embryonic development of zebra fish (D. rerio) were examined. The sea anemone samples were collected from the intertidal areas of the Hormuz Island (Persian Gulf), and were frozen at -160 °C. Protein and peptide components were extracted by 100% methanol. Following the total protein assessment by ELISA, three concentrations (2.1, 3.7 and 7.4 mg/ml distil water) were prepared. From each concentration, 2 ml was added to the microplates containing 150 zebra fish eggs each, with 2 replications; microplates with normal aquarium water was also used as control group. The eggs were incubated for 72 hrs and the process of embryonic development was observed every 6 to 12 hours. Results showed that the embryonic development was normal in the control group, while the eggs treated with 3.7 and 7.4 mg/ml ofmucal proteins degenerated and blackened in less than 12 hours. Also a delay in the phase of growth in embryonic development was observed in the group with 1.2 mg/ml of protein. Our results showed that the mucal proteins from this sea anemone can affect embryonic development rapidly, causing delayed growth at low concentration, and cell lysis and embryonic degeneration at high concentrations.

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The “Persian Gulf”, as a very important geopolitical region known as global heartland, is the third great gulf of the world. There have been some controversies over the name of this region in recent few decades, and recently some Persian Gulf Arab states or sometimes American and European institutes have tried to coin the fake name of “Arab Gulf” instead. In this paper, after reviewing the literature and historical and international documents, we study the naming strategy of international media toward the name of this important geographical entity. We compare the frequency, genre and content of the articles and news in which four referring expressions of “Arabic/Arab/Arabian/Persian Gulf” have been used within the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework. The data are gathered from Time magazine archive (1923-2008) and Contemporary Corpus of American English (COCA) (1990-2012). The findings of this article show that, comparing with other terms, the usage of the term “Persian Gulf” is considerably and undeniably more than the other three terms in a way that in Time magazine archive, there are 969 and in COCA corpus, 5003 cases of “Persian Gulf” usages while this number is around a hundred for all of the three coined words. The results further shows that while Persian Gulf is widely used context freely as default name, “Arab Gulf” term is mostly used in economic context, especially in those news and articles, which are about the “oil”.

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Settlement of benthic community depends on environmental conditions and interspecific reactions. The effect of substrates on the surface cover by the soft coral, Zoanthus sansibaricus, and the brown algae, Iyengaria stellata and their computational condition, was compared in the Hormuz Island by estimating of coverage area in 40 quadrates (50×50 cm). Z. sansibaricus is a dominant soft coarl (Zoanthid) species in Hormuz island coasts in the other side I. stellata considered as dominant macroalgea, most of year in area. Significant negative correlation (p<0.01; r = -0.607) revealed competition between two species in settlement on the two substrates. Soft coral with 61.7% coverage was dominant vs. 16.8% for brown algae on muddy-Rubble substrate, but on sandy-Rubble substrate, the brown algae was dominant with 37.8% coverage vs. 19.5% for the soft coral. It seems that better compitiunal conditions in settlement on unconsolidated substrate have some advantages for Z. sansibaricus on Muddy-rubble substrate.

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Nowadays, replacement of the synthetic antioxidants by natural ones has been noticed in the food industry. Seaweeds with rich sources of antioxidant compounds will be excellent choice for this purpose. In the study Effect of the use of water and different organic solvents such as acetone, ethanol and methanol 50% on the total polyphenol content and antioxidant activity was studied for two species of red algae Hypnea hamulosa and Gracilaria corticata of Persian Gulf. Extraction was performed using conventional solvent extraction method and the ratio of 1:20 algae: solvent. The results indicated that acetone extracts (50%) had the highest values in the total phenol contents (0.31 mg tannic acid / g algal powder), ferric reducing antioxidant power (0.06 mg tannic acid / g algal powder), DPPH radical scavenging activity 76.11% (p<0.05). Total antioxidant activity of this extract showed no significant difference with ethanolic extracts (50%) and aqueous extract (p> 0.05). Comparison of two algal species showed that in all factors except total antioxidant activity, algal species Gracilaria corticata had a higher antioxidant activity (p<0.05). Therefore conclude that solvents with different polarities have a significant effect on total phenolic content and antioxidant activity.

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Aims: The Scomberoides commersonnianus (Talang Queenfish) is in the Persian Gulf waters and constitutes a part of catches in Arab states of the Persian Gulf. Fish food habits are important in understanding food chains. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diet composition of Talang Queenfish in the coastal water of Hormozgan province.
Materials & Methods: In this experimental study, 422 Talang Queenfish were collected from coastal waters of Bandar Abbas. Total length and fork length were calculated. The weight was measured by a digital scale and recorded on a special sampling sheet. Tables and charts were drawn, using Excel 2007 software, and the data were analyzed, using SPSS 20 software  by T Paoli tests and Pearson correlation coefficient.
Findings: The minimum and maximum fork length was 18 cm and 86 cm, respectively, and the mean fork length was 54.282cm. With increasing the fork length, fish weight increased with exponential model (r=0.0151; p<0.05). The length and weight of fish showed a high correlation (r=0.98; p<0.05). The highest gastrosomatic index was in November and the lowest was in June. The vacuity index was 62.32. The food preferences were fish, Crustacean, and Molluscs. The main food of Scomberoides commersonnianus was Anchovies, and the subsidiary food included Hairtail Fish, Goldstripe sardinella, Ponyfish, Silver sillago, Catfish, Threadfin Bream, Goatfish and other Clupeidae fishes.
Conclusion: According to the vacuity index, this fish does not eat a lot. The food preferences are fish, Crustacean, and Molluscs and Anchovies is the main food. The subsidiary food included Hairtail Fish, Goldstripe sardinella, Ponyfish, Silver sillago, Catfish, Threadfin Bream, Goatfish and other Clupeidae fishes.

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Prohibition of the slave trade that started from the late 18th century from France and gradually spread over  the Europe; At the beginning of the 19th century it came to Asia and then to the Persian Gulf region. The leader of this process in the Persian Gulf were English people who were somehow trying for more consolidated position and Protection of their interests in region. The struggle continued to early 20th century. Causes formation and persistence of this process for almost a century, are significant issue that is dealt with in this study through critical discourse analysis of Norman Fairclough. This method has an Intertextual approach and texts as Susceptible Graph Processes, movements and political and social change applies. Therefore, the present research focused on  selecting of a portion of the notes by Amir Kabir and Justin Sheil, minister in Tehran, that between 17 Rabi al- Thani to 10 Jumada al-Awwal 1267 concerning the prohibition of the slave trade were written, this process has analyzed and thereby, influence and dominate the "discourse imperialism" in the relations of power and in contrast the weakness of rule-based "discourse absolute despotism" of Qajar, the main causes for the formation and persistence  of the struggle against slave trade during this period, has been considered.  

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• The goal of this study was to determine the absorption of five toxic heavy metals (Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Chromium, and Arsenic) in muscle tissues of eleven species of fish in the waters of Khuzestan province- Bandar Mahshahr.

Material and Methods: For this purpose, 66 fishes, with the typical market weight were randomly selected. After performing biometrics assessment on samples, the muscle tissue was removed. The amount of estimated daily intake (EDI), estimated weekly intake (EWI), maximum allowable consumption limit (Cr), maximum allowable meals consumed (CR) and adults and the hazard quotient of the consumption of these fishes with regard to non-cancerous diseases (THQ) for 11 species were calculated.

• The concentration of metals was lower in comparison with the standards of MAFF, NHMRC and WHO, but in some cases was higher than USEPA standard. The hazard quotient for non-cancerous diseases all eleven species less than one, and for lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium, and arsenic, was calculated to be 0.018, 0.0237, .0428, 0.1146, and 0.0295, respectively. Also, the total hazard index (HI) in this research was obtained to be 0.221.
• The analysis of the accumulation and consumption hazard of five heavy metals in eleven species under study from the coastal waters of Khuzestan- Bandar Mahshahr shows that although the consumption of these fishes any hazard to consumers in connection with their health, however, with regard to the amount of their consumption by pregnant women and children considerations must be complied with.

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Crude oil is comprised of four groups: Saturates Aromatics, Resins and Asphaltenes. Oil pollution has irreversible effects on marine ecosystems. Therefore paying attention to oil pollution and the management of the ports is very important. Biodegradation of oil derivatives is more effective, more powerful and more economically efficient method for remediation in polluted sites rather than physicochemical methods. In this study, for isolation of crude oil degrading bacteria, seawater and mussels were collected from Persian Gulf. Enumeration of bacteria were done in collected samples. Isolated bacteria were identified by biochemical and molecular tests. Crude oil biodegradation for each strain was assessed by spectrophotometer and Gas Chromatography (GC). The results of this study show that the quantity and biodiversity of heterotrophic and crude oil degrading bacteria in Crassostrea gigas mussels was higher than surrounding environment (seawater). Eleven crude oil degrading bacteria were isolated from Persian Gulf, 7 strains were identified biochemically and 2 strains were selected on the basis of higher degradation. These isolated strains were identified as Shewanella and Alcanivorax. The half percentage of oil was removed by these strains in 15 days of incubation. These bacteria could be used for cleanup oil-polluted marine areas after more research and field observation.

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Aims: The aim of the current study was to determine the role of Avicennia marina’s primary production as well as other food sources in the diet of Longjaw thryssa, Thryssa setirostris (Broussonet, 1782) in an arid mangrove ecosystem using carbon stable isotopes of carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N).
Material & Methods: We collected five potential food sources in the ecosystem including fresh and senescent leaves of Avicennia marina, particulate organic matter, microphytobenthos and sediment organic matter for further stable isotope analysis. Additionally, fishes were collected with a combination of set nets and seines. The muscle tissue (boneless and skinned, 5 g) was removed from the dorsum of fish.
Findings: Significant differences were found between carbon and nitrogen isotopes of different food sources (p < 0.05). Although, this was not significant for green and senescent leaves (p > 0.05). The average values of carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios of T. setirostris were 15.93‰ and 13.01‰, respectively. The SIMMR model showed that the contribution of senescent and fresh leaves in the diet of T. setirostris was 15% and 10%, respectively.
Conclusion: The result of the current study emphasized a limited role for mangrove detritus in the diet of transient fishes in an arid mangrove ecosystem.
 

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Vibrios are human pathogens that are widely distributed in the marine environments. Those organisms are frequently isolated from a variety of raw seafood’s. Consumption of raw or undercooked sea food contaminated with some of Vibrio species, may lead to development of acute gastroenteritis and clinical specimens. The present study aimed at determining the contamination of shrimps caught off the south coast of Iran. A total 120 samples of fresh shrimp collected from marine shrimps (Paeneus monodon) were tested for possible presence of Vibrio species by cultural and biochemical analysis. Vibrio spp. was detected in 26.7% of the samples analyzed in this study. Among Vibrio isolates, Vibrio alginolyticus was the species most frequently detected (43.6%), followed by Vibrio parahaemolyticus (34.4%), Vibrio vulnificus (9%), Vibrio cholera and Vibrio orientalis (6.5%). The results confirmed the need for a specific shrimp inspection plan to detect the presence of Vibrio species in order to eliminate public health risks associated with shrimp consumption.

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