ALBERT

Notes: Abstract Physiological responses of two bivalves (Mytilus edulis L. and Cardium edule L.) to intertidal conditions were studied. Specimens were collected from S. W. England in autumn/winter, 1980, and acclimatized to either intertidal or subtidal regimes before measurement of rates of heat dissipation $$\left( {{}_t\dot q} \right)$$ and oxygen uptake $$\left( {\dot \upsilon _{{\rm O}_2 } } \right)$$ during 5 h of air exposure, and rates of $$\dot \upsilon _{{\rm O}_2 }$$ , particle clearance, ammonia excretion, and food-absorption efficiency during 7 h of reimmersion. Subtidal individuals were either intermittently or continuously fed in order to distinguish the effects of periodic food supply from the effects of air exposure. Specimens of M. edulis had low aerial rates of $${}_t\dot q$$ (14 to 20% of aquatic rate), and $${}_t\dot q$$ was greater than the energy equivalent of $$\dot \upsilon _{{\rm O}_2 }$$ , indicating that they were largely anaerobic. In contrast, C. edule “air-gaped” and had higher aerial rates of $${}_t\dot q$$ and $$\dot \upsilon _{{\rm O}_2 }$$ (50 to 75% of aquatic rate). There were behavioural and metabolic differences in the responses of intertidally and subtidally acclimatized mussels and cockles to air exposure. Intertidal individuals of both species were more quiescent, had lower aerial rates of $${}_t\dot q$$ and $$\dot \upsilon _{{\rm O}_2 }$$ , and showed a conditioned response at the “expected” time of reimmersion. The reduction in aerial rate of $${}_t\dot q$$ was an energy-saving mechanism and the payment of the “oxygen-debt” within 2 h of reimmersion represented a significant “cost”. The “heat increment” associated with feeding and digestion was estimated as 15 to 17% of the oxygen uptake by M. edulis during all stages of recovery. M. edulis adapted to the intertidal regime by reducing its time-averaged aerial and aquatic rates of ammonia excretion. In contrast, C. edule maintained a high aerial and aquatic rate of ammonia excretion. The clearance rates of M. edulis recovered rapidly (0.5 to 1.5 h) following reimmersion, whereas those of C. edule recovered more slowly, particularly for the subtidal individuals following acute exposure (〉4 h). There was no evidence of increased clearance rate or absorption efficiency by intertidal individuals to compensate for the loss of feeding time. Intertidally acclimatized individuals of M. edulis and C. edule had more energy available for growth (scope for growth) integrated over a 12 h period and higher growth efficiencies than subtidal individuals subjected to acute air exposure and intermittent feeding regimes. This was the result of reduced aerial and aquatic rates of energy expenditure, a relatively small “cost” in terms of the payment of “oxygen-debt” and a rapid recovery of clearance rate following reimmersion.

Notes: Abstract Energy budgets were calculated for individuals of the sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima (Brandt), collected in 1981 and 1982 from Bodega Harbor, California, USA. Rates of ammonium excretion were measured in high-and low-intertidal, symbiotic and aposymbiotic sea anemones within 24 h of collection. Among symbiotic and aposymbiotic individuals, no differences in excretion rate were found on the basis of intertidal height. However, rates of ammonium excretion in aposymbiotic anemones (2.14 μmol NH + 4 g-1 h-1) were significantly higher than in symbiotic ones (0.288 μmol NH + 4 g-1 h-1). Rates of excretion were used with estimated rates of oxygen uptake to calculate nitrogen quotients (NQ). NQ and RQ values from the literature were used to calculate an oxyenthalpic equivalent [501 kJ (mol O2)-1 for R+U], and mass proportions of protein (54%), carbohydrate (44%) and lipid (2%) catabolized during routine metabolism in this species 24 h after feeding. Integrated energy budgets of these experimental anemones were calculated from data on ingestion, absorption and growth, and estimates of translocated energy from the symbiotic algae. Contribution of zooxanthellae to animal respiration based on translocation=90% and RQ=0.97 are 41 and 79% in high-and low-intertidal anemones, respectively. Calculated scope for growth is greater than directly measured growth in both high-and low-intertidal individuals. The deficit, estimated as 30% of assimilated energy in high-intertidal anemones, is attributed to unmeasured costs (specific dynamic effect) or production (mucus). Low-intertidal anemones lost mass during the experiment, implying that the magnitude of the deficit was greater in these anemones than in upper intertidal individuals. Anemones from both shore levels lost zooxanthellae during the experiment, which contributed to energy loss since the contribution of the zooxanthellae is greater in low-intertidal anemones. Scope for growth is preserved in high-intertidal anemones (29% of assimilated energy) because metabolic demands are lower due to aerial exposure, and prey capture rate is higher compared to lowshore anemones. Although possibly underestimated, lower scope for growth in low-shore anemones may result from continuous feeding and digestion processes that are less efficient than those of periodically feeding high-intertidal anemones.

Notes: Abstract The gonad index in the deposit-feeding asteroid Ctenodiscus crispatus (Retzius) in the Gulf of Maine (USA) is seasonally less variable than in any other sea star, ranging from 2.99 to 4.98% of dry body weight in females and from 2.28 to 3.42% in males, and varies in concert with, rather than reciprocal to, the pyloric caecum index. Biochemical composition and, hence, caloric content, of the gonads also show little seasonal change, suggesting that reproduction is aseasonal and continuous in this population. Oocyte development is asynchronous, all females having a full size range of oocytes (from less than 30 μm to greater than 400 μm diameter) throughout the year. Seasonally determined size-frequency distributions of juveniles, oocyte cytology and size-frequency distributions, responsiveness of adult females to 1-methyladenine, and oxygen uptake rates indicate that variations in reproductive intensity are superimposed on continuous reproduction, and seem related to changes in phytoplankton production rather than to temperature. The rich neutral lipid content (ca. 50% of total lipid) and large egg size (〉400 μm) in the ovaries suggest that development is direct. The population is extremely variable genetically, polymorphism among 13 enzyme-coding genes being 77% and average heterozygosity being 0.174. The reproductive pattern and genetic variation in the eurybathic C. crispatus are similar to those in deep-sea echinoderms. This may be related to the constancy of the population's detrital food source, to small-scale heterogeneity of its physical environment, and to low individual vagility.

Notes: Abstract Recent widespread bleaching of coral reef anthozoans has been observed on the Great Barrier Reef, the Pacific coast of Panama, and in the Caribbean Sea. Bleaching events have been correlated with anomalously high sea surface temperatures which are presumed to cause the expulsion of zooxanthellae from their hosts. Our experimental results show that increases in temperature significantly reduce the total number of zooxanthellae per polyp. At the same time temperature, irradiance (photosynthetically active radiation=PAR), and ultraviolet radiation (UV) independently increase the activities of the enzymes superoxide dismutase, catalase, and ascorbate peroxidase within the zooxanthellae of the zoanthid Palythoa caribaeorum. Enzyme activities within the host are only suggestive of similar changes. These enzymes are responsible for detoxifying active forms of oxygen, and their elevated activities indirectly indicate an increase in the production of active oxygen species by increases in these environmental factors. Historically, bleaching has been attributed to changes in temperature, salinity, and UV. Increases in temperature or highly energetic UV radiation can increase the flux of active forms of oxygen, particularly at the elevated oxygen concentrations that prevail in the tissues during photosynthesis, with oxygen toxicity potentially mediating the bleaching event. Additionally, the concentration of UV absorbing compounds within the symbiosis is inversely related to temperature, potentially increasing exposure of the host and zooxanthellae to the direct effects of UV.

Notes: Summary Examination of 34 species of symbiotic invertebrates in four phyla has confirmed the generality of a direct relationship between chlorophyll concentration and the activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase, two enzymes involved in the detoxification of active oxygen. On a finer scale, activities of these enzymes also depend on the localization of the algal symbions (intracellular or extracellular) and hence on the extent to which photosynthetic O2 actually contacts animal cytoplasm, and on the solar irradiance experienced by the symbionts. Differences in SOD activity among organs of Tridacna crocea are not fully explained by local O2 levels but are further related to organ-specific retes of O2 consumption. This result is discussed in terms of known mechanisms of superoxide radical production in mitochondria and differences in O2 utilization concentrations among various organs in bivalve molluscs.

Notes: Abstract Colonies of Acropora microphthalma (Verrill 1869) were transferred from depths of 2 to 3, 10, 20, and 30 m to UV-transparent and UV-opaque respirometry chambers placed at 1 m depth at Bowl Reef, Great Barrier Reef, in March 1989. Peak rates of photosynthesis in colonies originating at 2 and 10 m were unaffected by solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation at 1 m, whereas photosynthesis showed 30 and 38% inhibition in colonies transferred from 20 and 30 m, respectively. This differential sensitivity of corals to UV radiation was consistent with the five- to tenfold higher concentrations of UV-absorbing, mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs, putative defenses against UV) in 2- and 10-m colonies compared with 20- and 30-m colonies. Photosynthesis in zooxanthellae freshly isolated from 2- and 10-m corals, however, was inhibited by UV, indicating that the host's tissues, which contain 95% of the total MAAs in corals at these depths, are the first line of defense against solar UV and provide protection to their endosymbiotic algae. The general bathymetric decline in the activities of the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the host, and SOD, catalase, and ascorbate peroxidase in the zooxanthellae, is related to the decrease in potential for photooxidative stress with increasing depth.

Notes: Abstract Although the oyster drill Urosalpinx cinerea (Say) is often cited as an example of a species which has formed physiological races among populations experiencing different thermal conditions, temperature effects on the respiratory metabolism of this organism have not been studied. Acclimated metabolism-temperature curves were constructed for 4 latitudinally separated populations which include two subspecies. Virginia U. cinerea follyensis, and Massachusetts and Maine U. cinerea cinerea, exhibit the classical pattern of latitudinal compensation of oxygen consumption, apparently due to an inverse size-latitude relationship which is contrary to Bergmann's rule. It is suggested that this anomaly may have resulted from the selective development of a smaller maximum size in the northern populations, although transportation of drills by man along the Atlantic coast has probably confused the situation. For reasons not immediately apparent, the Massachusetts individuals show rates consistently lower than those of the North Carolina, Virginia, and Maine speciments.

Notes: Abstract The bioaccumulation of ultraviolet radiation-absorbing mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) by Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis (Müller) was determined in specimens maintained on MAA-rich and MAA-deficient diets. Individuals were fed either the red alga Mastocarpus stellatus (Stackhouse), which has a high concentration of the MAA shinorine (6.98 nmolmg−1 dry wt), and trace amounts of the MAAs porphyra-334, asterina-330 and palythine, or the brown alga Laminaria saccharina (Lamouroux), which contains no detectable MAAs. Reproductively spent urchins were fed ad libitum during a 9 mo period in 1992 to 1993 until they were once again gravid. To monitor accumulation, samples of urchin tissues and ingested food were taken throughout the 9 mo period from males and females maintained on each diet, and the concentrations of MAAs determined using high performance liquid chromatography. Urchins maintained on a diet of M. stellatus showed an ovarian shinorine concentration (8.33 nmol mg−1 dry wt) 25 times higher than those fed L. saccharina. There was no change in MAA content of testes or somatic tissues in either feeding group. More than 99% of the MAAs present in an experimental meal of M. stellatus were removed during passage through the gut. Previous studies have inferred dietary accumulation of MAAs by comparing MAAs present in animal tissues with the consumer's potential diet in the field. This is the first study to have monitored MAA accumulation in animal tissues in conjunction with a controlled diet having a known MAA composition. Concentrating MAAs in the ovaries may provide eggs released into the water column with protection from damaging solar ultraviolet radiation.

Notes: Abstract The effects of temperature on oxygen consumption and spontaneous rhythmic activity have been investigated in various stages of the life histories of 3 species of jellyfish from the Chesapeake Bay, USA. All 3 species clearly show the ability to acclimate positively to temperature change. Thermal sensitivity of metabolism in the winter medusa Cyanea capillata fulva is fairly low at temperature intervals which are experienced in nature. Polyps of the two summer medusae, Chrysaora quinquecirrha and Aurelia aurita, show reduced metabolic sensitivity at temperatures normally accompanying high developmental activity and the onset of strobilation.

Notes: Abstract Many tropical cnidarians living in shallow water contain a class of ultraviolet-A (UV-A, 320 to 400 nm) and ultraviolet-B (UV-B, 280 to 320 nm) absorbing compounds known as mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs). These compounds may provide protection from the deleterious effects of solar UV radiation. Using a novel application of reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography, we find that the temperate sea anemoneAnthopleura elegantissima (collected in 1988 from Bodega Bay, California, and in 1991 from Santa Barbara, California) contains four major MAAs: shinorine, porphyra-334, and two new compounds, mycosporine-taurine and mycosporine-2 glycine. Analysis of zooxanthellate (containing zooxanthellae) and naturally apozooxanthellate (lacking zooxanthellae) specimens acclimated in the presence and absence of UV for 28 d in the spring of 1988 suggests that this anemone, unlike some other anthozoans, does not regulate the concentration of its MAAs in response to UV radiation. The presence of similar concentration of MAAs in apozooxanthellate and zooxanthellate specimens indicates that symbiosis with algae is not required for these compounds to be present in the anemone. The total concentration of MAAs in the zooxanthellae is only about 12% of that in their host's tissues.