Starvation resistance in juvenile freshwater crayfish

Abstract

Strong starvation resistance has been observed in larval decapods developing in freshwater where food appearance may be unpredictable or poor. The point-of-no-return (PNR) has often been utilized to quantify the vulnerability of a given species or developmental stage to starvation. Most studies of nutritional effects on decapods focus on marine species, while there is less information on freshwater species. We evaluated the effects of starvation on survival, growth, and hepatopancreas structure of both early (first free-living stage, JIII) and late (1 g, J1g) juveniles of Cherax quadricarinatus. The experiments consisted of treatments with increasing numbers of days without food followed by continuous feeding until Day 60 (experiment with JIII) or 90 (experiment with J1g). Regardless of body size, the time from the beginning of the experiment to first ecdysis increased with the length of the starvation period. Growth was affected by starvation in JIII, but it recovered after feeding, while growth could not be fully compensated during subsequent feeding in J1g. PNR values (means ± SD) were 8.7 ± 0.3 and 51.0 ± 1.5 d, corresponding to 125 and 220% of total stage duration, respectively. In conclusion, juvenile C. quadricarinatus are highly resistant to starvation compared to early stages of other decapods. Freshwater environments with unstable conditions of food availability may have selected for strong starvation resistance, i.e. low nutritional vulnerability. This feature gives this species potential importance for aquaculture and as an invader. KEY WORDS: Decapoda · Parastacidae · Freshwater · Cherax quadricarinatus · Point-of-no-return · HepatopancreasResale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher Aquat Biol 16: 287-297, 2012 tubule consisting of different cell types, i.e. E-cell (embryonic), R-cell (resorptive), F-cell (fibrillar), and B-cell (blisterlike) (Al-Mohanna & Nott 1986Franceschini-Vicentini et al. 2009, Icely & Nott 1992. Hence, the capability of a decapod to survive transitory lack of food and to subsequently recover from such periods depends on adaptive physiological and behavioral traits and, especially, on its capacity to store energy in the hepatopancreas.All these properties vary greatly among phylogenetic groups, developmental stages, reproductive periods, and adult habitats (Sulkin & McKeen 1999, Giménez & Anger 2005, Calado et al. 2010. A particularly strong starvation resistance has been observed in larval decapods developing in freshwater, at high latitudes, or in other highly variable habitats, where food availability may be unpredictable or on average poor (e.g. Anger et al. 2004, Paschke et al. 2004. Most studies of nutritional effects on decapods, however, focus on marine species (e.g. Liddy et al. 2003, Bas et al. 2008, Zhang et al. 2009, Gebauer et al. 2010, while less have been carried out on freshwater species (Jones & Obst 2000, Anger & Hayd 2009, Powell & Watts 2010.Using larvae of the spider crab Hyas araneus as a model, Anger & Dawi...

Effect of multiple spawning on female reproductive output and offspring quality in a freshwater caridean shrimp with direct development

“…The physiological stress triggered by starvation is particularly important in early stages of development, because it can lead to severe nutrient deficiencies (Anger 2001;Wahle 2003). In addition, Stumpf et al (2010), Calvo et al (2012), and Sacrist an et al However, the rate of biomass loss then levels off due to a reduction in the metabolic rate, a physiological effect of prolonged starvation (Anger 2001).…”

Resistance to starvation of first-stage juveniles of the Caribbean spiny lobster

“…In our two PNR experiments, the duration of stage JI increased with increasing period of initial starvation. A delay in molting caused by lack of food has been documented in early life stages of other marine and freshwater crustacean species (e.g., Anger & Dawirs, 1981; Mikami, Greenwood & Gillespie, 1995; Abrunhosa & Kittaka, 1997; Stumpf et al, 2010; Calvo et al, 2012) except N. davidi, in which the duration of stages JI and JIII was not affected by the duration of initial starvation periods (Pantaleão et al, 2015). …”

Mobilization of energetic reserves during starvation in juveniles of different size of the redclaw crayfishCherax quadricarinatus

“…These days correspond to the PNR 25 and PNR 50 values previously estimated using the sigmoidal curve M = 100.1(1 + exp( (x .74) −1 8.65) −1 where M was the mortality (%), and x the period of starvation (days; Calvo et al, 2012). During the experiment, two samples of 20 juveniles were taken from each aquarium, one at day 8 and an other at day 9.…”

“…Control juveniles were daily fed in both experiments, while the treated ones were starved till the end of the experiment (9 and 50 days, re spectively, based on a previous study (Calvo et al, 2012). Control ju veniles were offered the nutritionally balance food Tetracolor ® (see above), which was provided ad libitum once a day.…”

“…Cherax quadricarinatus juveniles have been characterized as highly resistant to prolonged periods of starvation when compared to other decapod crustaceans, due to the fact that juveniles accelerate their growth with high survival values when feed is supplied (Calvo, Tropea, Anger, & López Greco, 2012;Sacristán, Ansaldo, Franco Tadic, Fernández Gimenez, & López Greco, 2016).…”