Comparative gill characteristics of Munida quadrispina (Decapoda, Galatheidae) from different habitat oxygen conditions

Abstract

The allometric (bilogarithmic) relationship between dry gill weight and organic body weight was compared for benthic galatheid crabs (Munida quadrispina Benedict, 1902) from a low-oxygen fjord and from a normal oxygen population. In the M. quadrispina from the low-oxygen fjord, the slope (b) of the allometric function of gill weight versus body weight was 1.00. This b value was significantly higher (ANCOVA, p < 0.01) than the corresponding slope for the same function in M. quadrispina from normoxic areas (b = 0.63). However, only the largest crabs from the low-oxygen fjord were living consistently in low-oxygen (<0.15 mL/L) conditions; they also had significantly greater (twice as much) relative gill weight than their normoxic counterparts. This observation agrees with findings from previous studies that only the largest M. quadrispina are able to tolerate severe oxygen depletion. Small M. quadrispina from both the low-oxygen fjord and the normoxic area were always found in oxygen concentrations >2.0 mL/L. There were no significant differences between the relative gill sizes of the small crabs from different areas. It was concluded that gill development in M. quadrispina is affected by long-term habitat oxygen conditions. This factor could be important in comparisons of inter- and intra-specific allometric gill functions and in the study of weight-specific oxygen consumption rates of decapod crustaceans.

Hypoxia and interdemic variation in Poecilia latipinna

“…A study of the decapod Munida quadrispina showed that gill size is developmentally plastic and responds to exposure to chronic hypoxia. Populations of M. quadrispina subjected to chronic severe hypoxia nearly doubled their ratio of gill dry mass to dry body mass compared to counterparts in normoxic waters (Burd, 1988). Plasticity in gill size in response to hypoxia has also been reported for bullfrog Rana catesbeiana larvae (Bond, 1960) and salamander, Salamandra maculosa and Ambystoma jeffersonianum , larvae (Burggren & Mwalukoma, 1983).…”

The Ecological Physiology of Earth's Second Oxygen Revolution

“…Benthic organisms have higher respiratory surface area, with respect to size or per unit mass, in waters with lower oxygen levels (Burd 1988, Lamont & Gage 2000, Jeffreys et al 2012). However, these adaptations to increase O 2 flux can increase the risk of exposure to sulfide.…”

Oxygen limitations on marine animal distributions and the collapse of epibenthic community structure during shoaling hypoxia

“…Despite their abundance, slender sole are not commercially important because of their small size (Froese & Pauly, ). Squat lobster is distributed from Alaska to California (Benedict, ) and is physiologically adapted to living in extremely low‐oxygen concentrations (Burd, ). In general, squat lobsters (superfamilies Chirostyloidea and Galatheoidea) are common in low‐oxygen environments (Lovrich & Thiel, ).…”

“…Thus, the lower threshold of aerobic energy transfer in metazoan food webs can be determined by the physiological limits of the component species. For example, squat lobsters are well adapted to flourish in low oxygen; they have plastic gill morphologies for enhanced respiration (Burd, ) and low critical oxygen tensions (~0.14 mL L −1 , Burd, ). Also, high densities of squat lobster can occur well below the severe hypoxia threshold (~100 individuals m −2 in <0.2 mL L −1 , Burd & Brinkhurst, ).…”