title: The application of optical coherence tomography to image subsurface tissue structure of Antarctic krill Euphausia superba.
abstract: Many small open ocean animals, such as Antarctic krill, are an important part of marine ecosystems. To discover what will happen to animals such as krill in a changing ocean, experiments are run in aquaria where conditions can be controlled to simulate water characteristics predicted to occur in the future. The response of individual animals to changing water conditions can be hard to observe, and with current observation techniques it is very difficult to follow the progress of an individual animal through its life. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an optical imaging technique that allows images at high resolution to be obtained from depths up to a few millimeters inside biological specimens. It is compatible with in vivo imaging and can be used repeatedly on the same specimens. In this work, we show how OCT may be applied to post mortem krill samples and how important physiological data such as shell thickness and estimates of organ volume can be obtained. Using OCT we find an average value for the thickness of krill exoskeleton to be (30±4) µm along a 1 cm length of the animal body. We also show that the technique may be used to provide detailed imagery of the internal structure of a pleopod joint and provide an estimate for the heart volume of (0.73±0.03) mm3.
authors.affiliation: SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bellini
authors.affiliation: Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia.
authors.forename: Martin J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.affiliation: SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Danielle J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Harper
authors.affiliation: SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sebastian R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Stott
authors.affiliation: SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Praveen C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Ashok
authors.affiliation: SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Kishan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dholakia
authors.affiliation: Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia.
authors.forename: So
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kawaguchi
authors.affiliation: Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: King
authors.affiliation: National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton Waterfront Campus, Southampton, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Tammy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Horton
authors.affiliation: SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Christian T A
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D033201:Euphausiacea / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods