Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-m9kch Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-21T11:17:42.427Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Osmotic balance and respiration in the hermit crab, Pagurus bernhardus, exposed to fluctuating salinities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Sandra E. Shumway
Sandra E. Shumway
Affiliation:
N.E.R.C. Unit of Marine Invertebrate Zoology, Marine Science Laboratories, Menai Bridge, Gwynedd
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Specimens of Pagurus bernhardus (with and without shells) were exposed to both gradual (sinusoidal) and abrupt (square-wave) salinity fluctuations and changes in haemolymph osmolality, tissue water content and oxygen consumption monitored. Oxygen consumption was also monitored under steady-state conditions; under these conditions there was no significant difference between the rate of oxygen consumption by animals with shells and animals without shells. Oxygen consumption was found to vary with body weight according to the equation O2 consumption = 0·292 W0·668. During exposure to fluctuating salinities the crabs with shells were seen to increase loco-motory activity when the external medium declined to approximately 75% sea water. Haemolymph osmolality values followed the same pattern of change as the external medium; the haemolymph of crabs without shells became significantly more dilute during exposure to low salinity than did that of crabs with shells. P. bernhardus showed significant increases and decreases in hydration level as salinities fell and rose respectively. Crabs with shells showed a marked temporary increase in oxygen consumption when the external medium declined to approximately 75% sea water; crabs without shells showed no such response. The importance of the shell as a means of protection against dilute media is discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 58 , Issue 4 , November 1978 , pp. 869 - 876
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bursey, C. R. & Bonner, E. E., 1977. Osmotic regulation and salinity tolerance of the mole crab, Emerita talpoida (Say). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 57A, 207–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davenport, J., 1972. Volume changes shown by some littoral anomuran Crustacea. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 52, 863–877.Google Scholar
Davenport, J., 1975. A technique for the measurement of oxygen consumption in small aquatic organisms. Laboratory Practice, 10, 693–695.Google Scholar
Davenport, J., 1976. A comparative study of the behaviour of some balanomorph barnacles exposed to fluctuating sea water concentrations. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 56, 889–907.Google Scholar
Davenport, J., Gruffydd, LL. D D. & Beaumont, A. R., 1975. An apparatus to supply water of fluctuating salinity and its use in a study of the salinity tolerances of larvae of the scallop Pecten maximus L. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 55, 391–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dehnel, P. A., 1962. Aspects of osmoregulation in two species of intertidal crabs. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., 122, 208–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McFarland, W. N. & Pickens, P. E., 1965. The effects of season, temperature and salinity on standard and active oxygen consumption of the grass shrimp Palaemonetes pugio Say. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 43, 571–585.Google Scholar
Roberts, J. L., 1957. Thermal acclimation of metabolism in the crab Pachygrapsus crassipes Randall. II. The influence of body size, starvation and molting. Physiological Zoölogy, 30, 232–242.Google Scholar
Shumway, S. E., 1977. Effect of salinity fluctuation on the osmotic pressure and Na+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ ion concentrations in the hemolymph of bivalve molluscs. Marine Biology, 41, 153–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shumway, S. E. & Davenport, J., 1977. Some aspects of the physiology of Arenicola marina (Polychaeta) exposed to fluctuating salinities. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 57, 907–924.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weymouth, F. W., Crismon, J. M., Hall, V. E., Belding, H. S. & Field, J., 1944. Total and tissue respiration in relation to body weight: a comparison of the kelp crab with other crustaceans and with mammals. Physiological Zoölogy, 17, 50–71.Google Scholar