Physiological Studies on Cancer irroratus Larvae II. Effects of Temperature and Salinity on Physiological Performance

Abstract

Larvae of the rock crab Cancer irroratus were cultured under specific environmental regimes to examine the influence of temperature and salinity on respiration and excretion rates during development. In addition, the type of biochemical substrate used for energy production was determined. The allometric relationship between oxygen consumption and body weight (i(3,) was found to be affected by temperature but not by salinity. Larvae cultured at 10 "C exhibited a significantly (P5 0.05) higher regression coefficient (1.35) than did larvae maintained at either 15 " (0.80) or 24 "C (0.87).