Effects of Crude Oil on American Lobster (Homarus americanus) Larvae in the Laboratory

1976 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 1604-1614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter G. Wells ◽  
John B. Sprague
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Larval Development ◽  
Food Consumption ◽  
Ultrasonic Vibration ◽  
Homarus Americanus ◽  
American Lobster ◽  
Fourth Stage ◽  
Dispersed Oil ◽  
Reference Toxicant

Four-day LC50s for Venezuelan Tia Juana crude oil were 0.86 mg/liter for first-stage larvae of the American lobster (Homarus americanus) and 4.9 mg/liter for third- and fourth-stage larvae. The 30-day LC50 was 0.14 mg/liter for larvae starting the test in their first stage. The threshold for retardation of larval development was about the same as the 30-day LC50. Decreased food consumption was demonstrated at 0.19 mg/liter. More "intermediate" larvae developed in oil exposures but no threshold was estimated. The ratio of "safe" to acutely lethal concentrations was about 0.03.Oil concentrations decreased during exposures; stated values could be multiplied by 0.59 to arrive at conventional average exposures. Stirring and ultrasonic vibration for 30 min dispersed averages of 7.4 and 18% of added oil. This and other techniques apparently dispersed similar components since toxicities were the same when based on measured concentrations. Aged dispersions were also equally toxic on a measured basis. Particles larger than 1.2 μm made up 84–96% of the dispersed oil and were about one-third as toxic as smaller particles and dissolved oil. For the reference toxicant DSS, the 4-day LC50 was 0.72 mg/liter for first-stage larvae indicating that lobster larvae are sensitive. Post-larval lobsters dug significantly more burrows when the substrate contained oil but did not avoid oiled substrate nor was growth or survival affected for substrates containing up to 1740 mg/liter of oil.

THE EFFECTS OF CRUDE OIL ON LARVAE OF LOBSTER HOMARUS AMERICANUS

1977 ◽  
Vol 1977 (1) ◽  
pp. 569-573
Author(s):  
Joseph M. Forns
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Mass Culture ◽  
Homarus Americanus ◽  
Behavioral Characteristics ◽  
American Lobster ◽  
Larval Stages ◽  
Fourth Larval Stage ◽  
Flow Through ◽  
Oil Exposure ◽  
South Louisiana

ABSTRACT The effects of API reference South Louisiana crude oil upon four larval stages of American lobster (Homarus americanus) were determined in a flow-through system. Tests were conducted with naturally-hatched animals in individual test chambers as well as in mass culture systems in an operating state lobster hatchery. Experimental flow-through crude oil exposure concentrations were 0.1, and 1.0 ppm, administered as a strongly-agitated emulsion-like mix to ambient temperature seawater ranging from 15°-20°C. Oil exposure residence times ranged from 0.8-5.6 minutes depending on the test. Exposed animals were monitored six times daily for feeding behavioral characteristics, mobility, molting success, growth and development times to reach the fourth larval stage. Pigmentation analysis was performed on individual larvae by photomicroscopy, and hydrocarbon analyses were also conducted thereon. Post-larval development through the eighth stage was investigated. Statistical comparisons were made among different control animals and between control and oil-exposed larvae.

scholarly journals Linking rising pCO2 and temperature to the larval development and physiology of the American lobster (Homarus americanus)

2016 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 1210-1219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesica D. Waller ◽  
Richard A. Wahle ◽  
Halley McVeigh ◽  
David M. Fields
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Larval Development ◽  
Stage Iv ◽  
Homarus Americanus ◽  
Larval Survival ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
High Pco2 ◽  
American Lobster ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel

Few studies have evaluated the joint effects of elevated temperature and pCO2 on marine organisms. In this study we investigated the interactive effects of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted temperature and pCO2 for the end of the 21st century on key aspects of larval development of the American lobster, Homarus americanus, an otherwise well-studied, iconic, and commercially prominent species in the northeastern United States and Atlantic Canada. Our experiments showed that larvae (stages I–III) and postlarvae (stage IV) reared in the high temperature treatments (19 °C) experienced significantly lower survival, developed twice as fast, and had significantly higher oxygen consumption rates, than those in ambient treatments (16 °C). Larvae from the ambient temperature/high pCO2 (750 ppm) treatment had significantly longer carapace lengths, greater dry masses in stages I–III and higher C: N ratios in stage IV than larvae from all other treatments. Stage IVs raised in the high pCO2 treatment at 19 °C had significantly higher feeding rates and swimming speeds than stage IVs from the other three treatments. Together these results suggest that projected end-century warming will have greater adverse effects than increased pCO2 on larval survival, and changing pCO2 may have a complex effect on larval metabolism and behaviour. Understanding how the most vulnerable life stages of the lobster life cycle respond to climate change is essential in connecting the northward geographic shifts projected by habitat quality models, and the underlying physiological and genetic mechanisms that drive their ecology.

Aspects of the Biology of Pseudocarcinonemertes homari and Its Association with the American Lobster, Homarus americanus

1985 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. E. Aiken ◽  
S. L. Waddy ◽  
L S. Uhazy
Keyword(s):  
Larval Development ◽  
Homarus Americanus ◽  
Egg Mass ◽  
American Lobster ◽  
Free Swimming ◽  
European Lobster ◽  
Newly Hatched Larvae

Pseudocarcinonemertes homari can reproduce on and destroy the egg mass of both the American (Homarus americanus) and the European lobster (H. gammarus) but does not appear to be a problem for brachyuran species. The eggs of P. homari are subspherical, average 251 × 260 μm, and are contained in individual compartments in a membranous brood sac that is attached to the lobster abdomen or egg mass. An average of 39 eggs occur in a brood sac. Newly hatched larvae are ciliated, lack anterior and posterior tufts, cirri or flagella, and are retained in the brood sac. Larval development is direct, and there is no free-swimming stage. After the larvae break out of the brood sac they join the adults and juveniles on the lobster egg mass. Many lobsters gradually remove infested eggs, but on those that do not, the nemertean population can increase to more than 14 000 individuals. After the lobster eggs are destroyed, the nemerteans disperse. Some form mucoid aggregations at protected sites on the exoskeleton; others move to the branchial chamber and gills or transfer to other lobsters. Reproduction occurs almost exclusively on the lobster egg mass, but P. homari appears capable of reproducing on lobster gills if denied access to lobster eggs for extended periods.

Behavior and Distribution of Larval and Early Jevenile Homarus americanus

1983 ◽  
Vol 40 (12) ◽  
pp. 2184-2188 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Cobb ◽  
T. Gulbransen ◽  
B. F. Phillips ◽  
D. Wang ◽  
M. Syslo
Keyword(s):  
Stage Iv ◽  
Homarus Americanus ◽  
American Lobster ◽  
Substrate Selection ◽  
Fourth Stage ◽  
Shallow Sea ◽  
Behavioral Observations

Field behavioral observations and plankton tows show that American lobster (Homarus americanus) larvae are concentrated in downwellings characteristic of shallow sea fronts. Stage IV lobsters swimming at the surface avoided floating weeds and sticks. Seventy percent of laboratory-reared fourth stage lobsters swam near the surface for more than a minute when released but only 25% of fifth stage lobsters did so. When early fourth stage lobsters encountered bottom, they did not remain long in one place, but late fourth and early fifth stage lobsters began to burrow. Late fourth and early fifth stage lobsters were less likely to return to the surface when they reached the bottom. If the bottom was unsuitable (featureless sand), the lobsters resumed swimming. These behaviors appear to be an appropriate mechanism for substrate selection during settlement.

Effect of Solitude on Time Between Fourth and Fifth Larval Molts in the American Lobster (Homarus americanus)

1970 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 1653-1655 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Stanley Cobb
Keyword(s):  
Homarus Americanus ◽  
American Lobster ◽  
Fourth Stage

Larvae held individually in containers spent an average of 12 days in the fourth stage. When held two larvae per container, one molted after an average of 12 days, the second after an average of 16 days. Duration of the fourth stage was not affected by gravel, shelter or bare bottom conditions, or illumination varying from <1 lux to 310 lux.

Larval development in the American lobster: changes in metabolic activity and the O:N ratio

1979 ◽  
Vol 57 (10) ◽  
pp. 1845-1848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith M. Capuzzo ◽  
Bruce A. Lancaster
Keyword(s):  
Larval Development ◽  
Ammonia Excretion ◽  
Homarus Americanus ◽  
American Lobster ◽  
Energy Yield ◽  
Larval Stages ◽  
O:N Ratio ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Principal Source ◽  
Carbohydrate Catabolism

The rates of oxygen consumption under conditions of feeding and starvation and the rates of ammonia excretion after feeding increased with each larval stage of the American lobster (Homarus americanus Milne Edwards) and decreased with the first postlarval stage. There was no significant difference in the O:N ratio of the first three larval stages (~26.5), but a significant reduction (P < 0.01) was measured among stages IV and V. It appears that, whereas protein catabolism may be the principal source of energy, some of the energy yield during larval development is from lipid or carbohydrate catabolism; the use of the latter substrates is diminished in the last larval and first postlarval stages.

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