title: Physiological responses of the southern king crab, Lithodes santolla (Decapoda: Lithodidae), to aerial exposure.
abstract: The recent demand for live seafood has made Lithodes santolla a potential candidate for the live crab market. Since live transport implies long aerial exposure times, the present study determined the tolerance of L. santolla to aerial exposure and also explored the physiological status of L. santolla after six different aerial exposure times: 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50h. No mortalities were recorded during emersion periods shorter than 40 h, however, all hemolymph parameters were modulated by aerial exposure. Hemolymph dissolved oxygen and pH were inversely related with the aerial exposure time (-0.016 mg L(-1) h(-1) and -0.018 h(-1), respectively), while oxyhemocyanin and hemolymph protein were positively correlated (0.006 mmol L(-1) h(-1) and 0.487 mg mL(-1) h(-1), respectively). Oxygen consumption at re-immersion was affected by aerial exposure time, with low values in animals emersed for longer than 30 h. We postulate that the unexpected high tolerance of L. santolla to aerial exposure is mainly related to adaptations to hypoxia, developed to overcome hypoxic events in their natural environment in deep water. The present findings are not only important for understanding L. santolla's physiology, but also provide the first evaluation of the potential marketing of southern king crab as live seafood.
authors: Instituto de Acuicultura, Universidad Austral de Chile, P.O. Box 1327, Puerto Montt, Chile; Department of Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, UK. Electronic address: m.a.urbina-foneron@exeter.ac.uk.
authors: Mauricio A
authors: MA
authors: Urbina
authors: Kurt
authors: K
authors: Paschke
authors: Paulina
authors: P
authors: Gebauer
authors: Juan Pablo
authors: JP
authors: Cumillaf
authors: Carlos
authors: C
authors: Rosas
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000388:Air; D000818:Animals; D003386:Brachyura / Q000378:metabolism*; D006458:Hemolymph / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Aerial exposure; Emersion; Hypoxia; Lithodes santolla; Live transport; Physiology; hemolymph status