Ushimado Marine Laboratory
Mailing Address : 130-17, Kashino, Ushimado, Setouchi, 701-43, Japan
Telephone : 81-86934-5210
Fax : 81-86934-5211
　
　 Research Staff 　
　
Tatsuya Sakamoto Director, Professor
　 E-mail:ryu@uml.okayama-u.ac.jp
Hiroko SHIRAI Associate Professor
　 E-mail:shirais@uml.okayama-u.ac.jp
Tadashi　AKIYAMA Assistant Professor
　 E-mail:akiyama@uml.okayama-u.ac.jp


　
　 Technical Staff
 　
　
Waichiro GODO E-mail:godo@uml.okayama-u.ac.jp


　 General Description
 　
　 The Ushimado Marine Laboratory, founded in Tamano City in 1954, was moved to Ushimado Town in 1979. The laboratory is located on the northern side of the eastern region of the Inland Sea of Japan (Setonaikai), 30 km south of Okayama City. The shore line as well as islands scattered in the northwest of Harimanada afford a variety of shore types. Although some interesting species have recently disappeared, representative species in most of the major phyla are found in numbers large to meet experimental requirements.

The laboratory offers courses on marine zoology, invertebrate physiology, and developmental biology for students of Okayama and other universities. The Laboratory is open to qualified workers all the year round. Applications for use of the Laboratory should be submitted to the director in advance.

List of marine invertebrates in Ushimado
　 Research in Progress
 　
　 (1) Regulatory biology of fishes at the molecular, cellular, organismal and ecological levels

(2) Construction of new theory of evolution

(3) Ecological and taxonomic study of the Cumacea (Arthropoda).


List of the papers by Prof. Sakamoto and his colleagues
List of papers by the other members of UML
　 Facilities
 　
　 Building, Aquarium, and Library: The Laboratory, 1,380 m2 of floor space, consists of a one-story research and managing section, a small library and a two-storied section which accommodates a classroom, a dining room and dormitory facilities. The research section includes a lecture room, a computer room, an experimental dark room, 6 constant temperature rooms, an aquaculture section with 4 constant temperature tanks (360 liter each), a workshop, etc. The outdoor aquarium consists of one large and several small tanks provided with running sea water.

Research and Teaching Facilities: Though priority is reserved for the staff research, following facilities are available for visiting workers. 　For morphology; various types of light microscopes, a transmission and a scanning electron microscopes, ordinary and ultra microtomes, etc. For biochemistry; a spectrophotometer, a refrigerated and an ultra centrifuges, an HPLC system, a lyophilizer, a -80 degree freezer, an electrophoretic apparatus, a PCR system, etc.　 Facilities for producing monoclonal antibodies are also available.　 Student-grade compound and dissecting microscopes are provided for marine courses. 　SCUBA diving facilities are available for field work at shallow and intermediate depths.

Vessels: The Laboratory maintains two fiber glass boats with engines, the MarinusⅡ(4.9 t, 165HP, capacity of 31 ) and the HayateⅢ (1.5 t, 107HP, capacity of 11).

Accommodations: Three Japanese style rooms and 5 bedrooms can accommodate up to 10 visiting workers and about 25 students. There is no meal service except for marine course periods. Visitors can use kitchen to cook by themselves.
　 Traffic Guide
 　
　

Transfer to the Ako Line at Okayama Station, get off at Oku Station (the 6 th station about 25 min ride from Okayama) and take a taxi there to the Laboratory.
　
　

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