Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-qxdb6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T08:59:39.082Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Ammonia output by eggs and larvae of the lumpsucker, Cyclopterus lumpus, the cod, Gadus morhua and the plaice, Pleuronectes platessa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2009

John Davenport
Affiliation:
N.E.R.C. Unit of Marine Invertebrate Biology, Marine Science Laboratories, Menai Bridge, Gwynedd, LL59 5EH
Sunniva Lønning
Affiliation:
Institute of Biology and Geology, University of Tromsø, P.O. Box 790, 6–9001 Tromsø, Norway
Elin Kjørsvik
Affiliation:
Institute of Biology and Geology, University of Tromsø, P.O. Box 790, 6–9001 Tromsø, Norway

Abstract

Cod and plaice eggs show a gradually increasing rate of ammonia excretion during development and in neither species was there a great change in individual output at hatching. The rates of ammonia excretion recorded for cod and plaice larvae were similar to those recorded for planktonic Crustacea of comparable size by Conover & Corner (1968).

Lumpsucker eggs and larvae have a basically low rate of ammonia excretion (consistent with their slow rate of development and low oxygen consumption), but much ammonia was released from the eggs in the first day or two after spawning. This ammonia was of non-metabolic origin, but was not accumulated from the ovarian fluid prior to spawning. Lumpfish eggs become very sticky when they are first exposed to sea water, but this stickiness is lost within 24 h. Stickiness stems from a viscous elastic slime; it is suggested that the non-metabolic output of ammonia is caused by changes in the composition of the slime as the eggs are bound together in a lattice.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Collins, M. A. J., 1976. The lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus L.) in Newfoundland waters. Canadian Field Naturalist, 90, 6467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conover, R. J. & Corner, E. D. S., 1968. Respiration and nitrogen excretion by some marine Zooplankton in relation to their life cycles. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 48, 4975.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, P. & Anderson, M., 1922. A study of the lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus L.). Contributions to Canadian Biology, 1, 120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davenport, J., 1983. Oxygen and the developing eggs and larvae of the lumpfish, Cyclopterus lumpus. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 63, 633640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davenport, J. & Lønning, S., 1980. Oxygen uptake in developing eggs and larvae of the cod, Gadus morhua L. Journal of Fish Biology, 16, 249256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forster, R. P. & Goldstein, L., 1969. Formation of excretory products. In Fish Physiology, vol. 1 (ed. Hoar, W. S. and Randall, D. J.), pp. 313350. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Fulton, T. W., 1907. On the spawning of the lumpsucker (Cyclopterus lumpus) and the paternal guardianship of the eggs. Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland, 24, 169178.Google Scholar
Holmes, W. N. & Donaldson, E. M., 1969. The body compartments and the distribution of electrolytes. In Fish Physiology, vol 1 (ed. Hoar, W. S. and Randall, D. J.), pp. 189. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Lønning, S. & Hagstrom, B. E., 1975. Scanning electron microscope studies of the surface of the fish egg. Astarte, 8, 1722.Google Scholar
Mochek, A. D., 1973. Spawning behaviour of the lumpsucker Cyclopterus lumpus L. Journal of Icthyology, 13, 615619.Google Scholar
Reynolds, S., 1963. The use of lead citrate at high pH as an electron opaque stain in electron microscopy. Journal of Cellular Biology, 17, 208211.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rice, S. D. & Stokes, R. M., 1974. Metabolism of nitrogenous wastes in the eggs and alevins of rainbow trout Salmo gairdneri Richardson. In The Early Life History of Fish (ed. Blaxter, J. H. S.), pp. 325337. Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, T., 1902. Observations on the food of fishes. Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland, 20, 486538.Google Scholar
Smith, H. W., 1929. The excretion of ammonia and urea by the gills of fish. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 81, 727742.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smitt, F. A., 1892. Scandinavian Fishes, part 1. 566 pp. Stockholm: Norstedt & Söner.Google Scholar
Yesipov, V. K., 1937. Promyslovyya ryby Barentseva morya (Food Fishes of the Barents Sea). Moscow: Pischepromizdat.Google Scholar
Zhitenev, A. N., 1970. Ecological and morphological features of the reproduction of the lump-sucker. Voprosȳ ikhtiologii, 10, 7784.Google Scholar