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Physiological constraints upon marine organisms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

J. D. Robertson
J. D. Robertson
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland, U.K.
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Abstract

When compared with sea water, most marine invertebrates are isosmotic but show varying degrees of ionic regulation, from accumulation of potassium and calcium to reductions of magnesium and sulphate. A reduction of sulphate in pelagic animals such as jellyfish and salps, and an accumulation of ammonium ions in arrow-worms (Sagitta) contribute to their near-neutral buoyancy. Marked reductions in salinity exclude mahy marine invertebrates. In the Baltic, polychaetes, bivalve molluscs and decapod crustaceans are reduced from 193, ninety-two and sixty-four species in the Belt Sea (salinity S 10-30‰) to three, four and two in the Gulf of Finland (salinity S 5-9‰). The chelicerate Limulus can stand a wide range in salinity, a few insect larvae can tolerate concentrations of 200% sea water, while the branchiopod shrimp Artemia can stand crystallising brine (36-37% NaCl). Very few species can tolerate temperatures of 40°C. One such species is the polychaete Alvinella pompejana, a hydrothermal vent animal at East Pacific Ridge (to the W of S America). The harpacticid copepod Tigriopus living in evaporating rockpools has a lethal temperature of 42°C at a salinity of S 90‰, but at S 8‰ that temperature is 34°C. Lack of oxygen and presence of hydrogen sulphide limit the distribution of animals in certain areas. Most active animals have respiratory pigments in their principal body fluid. Burrowing invertebrates such as Arenicola and Lingula have respectively haemoglobin in the blood and haemerythrin in the coelomic fluid, with mean oxygen capacities of 6 ml O2 per 100 ml in each case, compared to 0·6 and 0·5 ml in sea water at 10° and 20°C.

Keywords

Blood compositionburrowinghaemerythrinhaemocyaninhaemoglobinhydrogen sulphideoxygensalinitytemperature
Type
Physiological adaptations in some recent and fossil organisms
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 80 , Issue 3-4: Environments and Physiology of Fossil Organisms , 1989 , pp. 225 - 234
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1989

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