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Article: Morphological plasticity and resource allocation in response to food limitation and hyposalinity in a sea urchin.(Report)
- Article from:
- Journal of Shellfish Research
- Article date:
- April 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 National Shellfisheries Association, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ABSTRACT This study examined how the purple sea urchin, Anthocidaris crassispina, responded to food limitation and hyposalinity, two common stressors it may experience in the field. Young adults were reared under a combination of two food (ad-libitum feeding vs. fed once biweekly) and two salinity (31.5 [per thousand] to 33.5 [per thousand] natural seawater versus 25 [per thousand] diluted seawater) levels in a laboratory for 24 wk. Within the ranges examined, both stressors had a significant negative effect on test diameter, total weight, test weight, gonad weight, and gonad index. Food limitation led to marked urchin mortality (20.9% to 37.5%), but had no significant ...