Elsevier

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

Effects of temperature and salinity on the growth of laboratory-reared juvenile blue crabs Callinectes sapidus Rathbun

Abstract

Intermolt period, growth per ecdysis, and average growth per day for one ecdysial cycle are presented for juvenile blue crabs Callinectes sapidus Rathbun. Crabs were held in a closed artificial seawater system at five temperatures (15, 19, 23, 26, and 30 °C) and three salinities (3, 15, and 30 ppt) until two successive ecdyses were observed. Growth was measured as the change in width, wet weight, and dry weight (only dry weight is presented here). Initial dry weight was predicted from the initial width of crabs. Prediction equations correlating width and dry weight at the soft-shell stage were obtained by linear regression of data from preliminary work. The length of the interecdysial period was determined primarily by temperature. Both salinity and temperature affected growth per ecdysis and average growth per day, but temperature had a larger effect. Growth was generally greater at higher salinities. Growth rate calculated as average dry weight per day increased with temperature from 15 to 30° C at all three salinities. However, growth per ecdysis was highest at 23 ° C for each salinity.

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    Similarly, Diederich et al. (2011) found that juvenile C. fornicata growth was slowed in the 3 days following a short exposure to a salinity of 15. Low salinity has been shown to decrease juvenile growth in other species as well (the shrimp Farfantepenaeus brasiliensis: Brito et al., 2000; the crab Callinectes sapidus: Cadman and Weinstein, 1988; the shrimp Penaeus vannamei: Ponce-Palafox et al., 1997; the scallop Argopecten irradians: Shriver et al., 2002). The effects of salinity on larval and juvenile growth could be due to changes in rates of feeding, assimilation, and/or respiration.

  • Variation in penaeid shrimp growth rates along an estuarine salinity gradient: Implications for managing river diversions

    2011, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

    Even with additional food, mean growth rates of shrimp at the Intermediate location were less than those of shrimp at the high salinity location that received no additional food (brown shrimp: 0.8 vs. 1.3 mm d− 1; 48 vs. 101 mg d− 1; white shrimp: 0.8 vs. 1.2 mm d− 1; 47 vs. 74 mg d− 1). Although our attempt to incorporate temperature as a treatment in our experiments was unsuccessful, previous studies show that temperature often has a greater affect on the growth of estuarine organisms than salinity (Cadman and Weinstein, 1988; Vernberg and Piyatiratitivorakul, 1998; Rakocinski et al., 2002). Moreover, temperature can interact with salinity to affect osmoregulation and growth rates in estuarine animals (Williams, 1960; Zein-Eldin and Aldrich, 1965; Bishop et al., 1980; Lankford and Targett, 1994).

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