Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T18:54:12.933Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Aspects of the Life Histories of Perioculodes Longimanus, Pontocrates Arcticus and Synchelidium Maculatum (Crustacea: Amphipoda) at Millport, Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

D.J. Beare
Affiliation:
University Marine Biological Station, Millport, Isle of Cumbrae, Scotland, KA28 OEG
P.G. Moore
Affiliation:
To whom all correspondence should be addressed

Extract

Detailed catch and life history data for Perioculodes longimanus and Pontocrates arcticus, together with more limited comparable information on Synchelidium maculatum, are reported. Samples were taken year-round using a 0–5 mm mesh D-net towed over sand in the immediate sublittoral zone (-2 to -6 m Chart Datum) in Kames Bay, Great Cumbrae Island, Scotland. Estimated population densities of Perioculodes longimanus were highest in summer. The occurrence of Pontocrates arcticus was more erratic and S. maculatum occurred only in midsummer in very low numbers. The mean sizes of all population categories of Perioculodes longimanus were bigger in summer than in late autumn and winter. Female Perioculodes longimanus parasitized with the copepod Sphaeronella minuta were significantly smaller than the whole category ‘sexable females’. Adult female S. minuta (one per amphipod brood pouch infected) carried — 70–200 eggs per sac. In both Perioculodes longimanus and Pontocrates arcticus females were larger than males. In Synchelidium maculatum, by contrast, males and females were not different in size. Gravid females were present virtually year-round in Perioculodes longimanus and Pontocrates arcticus, with particularly high proportions of ovigerous females in midsummer and low proportions in midwinter. Both of these species had an annual life cycle with only one generation per year. Longevity was estimated at 15 months. The sex ratio nearly always showed substantial female dominance in all three species. Fecundity appeared to be related to body size but, due to egg losses during sample processing, data were too few for detailed analysis. The eggs of Perioculodes longimanus and Pontocrates arcticus were elliptical in shape, with winter eggs being smaller than summer eggs in Perioculodes longimanus, but larger in Pontocrates arcticus. The percentage of ovigerous females in the population was significantly correlated with a range of environmental factors tested, the highest correlation being with maximum weekly air temperature (for Perioculodes longimanus) and daylength (Pontocrates arcticus), although causative effects cannot be established since temperature/daylength factors were not independent variables

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1998

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

Beare, D.J., 1994. The comparative ecology of eight species of oedicerotid amphipod. PhD thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
Beare, D.J. & Moore, P.G., 1996. The distribution, growth and reproduction of Pontocrates arenarius and P. altamarinus (Crustacea: Amphipoda) at Millport, Scotland. journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 76, 931950.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bossanyi, J., 1957. A preliminary survey of the small natant fauna in the vicinity of the sea floor off Blyth, Northumberland, journal of Animal Ecology, 26, 353368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cleveland, W.S., 1979. Robust locally weighted regression and smoothing scatterplots. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 74, 829836.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colman, J.S. & Segrove, F., 1955. The tidal plankton over Stoupe Beck Sands, Robin Hood's Bay (Yorkshire, North Riding), journal of Animal Ecology, 24, 445462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costello, M.J. & Myers, A.A., 1989. Observations on the parasitism of Aora gracilis (Bate)(Amphipoda) by Sphaeronella leuckartii Salensky (Copepoda), with a review of amphipod- Sphaeronella associations, journal of Natural History, 23, 8191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dauvin, J.-C., 1987. Evolution á longterme (1978–1986) des populations d'amphipodes des sables fins de la Pierre Noire (Baie de Morlaix, Manche Occidentale) aprés la catastrophe de l'Amoco Cadiz. Marine Environmental Research, 21, 247273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dauvin, J.-C. & Zouhiri, S., 1996. Suprabenthic crustacean fauna of a dense Ampelisca community from the English Channel. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 76, 909929.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dolah, R.F. van & Bird, E., 1980. A comparison of reproductive patterns in epifaunal and infaunal gammaridean amphipods. Estuarine, Coastal and Marine Science, 11, 593604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fage, L., 1933. Pêches planktonique á la lumiére effectuées á Banyuls-sur-Mer et á Concarneau. 3. Crustacés. Archives de Zoologie Expérimentale et Générate, 76, 105248.Google Scholar
Fenwick, G.D., 1984. Partitioning of a rippled sand habitat by five infaunal crustaceans. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 83, 5372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fincham, A.A., 1969. Amphipods of the shallow-water sand community in the northern Irish Sea. journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 49, 10031024.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fincham, A.A., 1970. Amphipods in the surf plankton. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 50, 177198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fincham, A.A., 1971. Ecology and population studies of some intertidal and sublittoral sand-dwelling amphipods. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 51, 471488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fish, J.D., 1975. Development, hatching and brood size in Bathyporeia pilosa and Bathyporeia pelagica (Crustacea: Amphipoda). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 55, 357368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fish, J.D. & Mills, A., 1979. The reproductive biology of Corophium volutator and C. arenarium (Crustacea: Amphipoda). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 59, 355368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolding, S., 1981. Habitat selection and life cycle characteristics of five species of the amphipod genus Gammarus in the Baltic. Oikos, 37, 173178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lincoln, R.J., 1979. British marine Amphipoda: Gammaridea. London: British Museum (Natural History).Google Scholar
Mauchline, J., 1967. The biology of Schistomysis spiritus (Crustacea, Mysidacea). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 47, 383396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mclntyre, A.D. & Eleftheriou, A., 1968. The bottom fauna of a flatfish nursery ground. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 481, 113142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, P.G., 1981. The life histories of the amphipods Lembos websteri Bate and Corophium bonnellii (Milne-Edwards) in kelp holdfasts. Journal of Experimental Biology and Ecology, 49, 150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, P.G., 1984. The fauna of the Clyde Sea area. Crustacea: Amphipoda. University Marine Biological Station Millport, Occasional Publications, no. 2, 84 pp.Google Scholar
Moore, P.G. & Beare, D.J., 1993. Taxonomic confusion in the genus Pontocrates (Crustacea:Amphipoda) and the presence of P. arcticus in Britain. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 73, 609615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, P.G. & Wong, Y.M., 1996 a. Observations on the life history of Orchomene nanus (Krayer)(Amphipoda: Lysianassoidea) at Millport, Scotland as deduced from baited trapping. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 195, 5370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, P.G. & Wong, Y.M., 1996 b. A note concerning associates of the scavenging amphipod Orchomene nanus (Krayer) (Lysianassoidea). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 76, 259261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murdoch, M.H., Barlocher, F. & Laltoo, M.L., 1986. Population dynamics and nutrition of Corophium volutator (Pallas) in the Cumberland Basin (Bay of Fundy). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 103, 235249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, R., 1990. Ovigerous amphipods as freight hauliersg, PhD thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
Powell, R. & Moore, P.G., 1991. The breeding cycles of females of seven species of amphipod from the Clyde Sea area. Journal of Natural History, 25, 435479.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raitt, D.S., 1937. The benthic Amphipoda of the north-western North Sea and adjacent waters. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 27, 241254.Google Scholar
Ruffo, S., 1993. The Amphipoda of the Mediterranean. Part 3. Gammaridea (Melphidippidae to Talitridae), Ingolfiellidea, Caprellidea. Mémoirs de 1'Institut Océanographique, Monaco, No. 13, 577813.Google Scholar
Sainte-Marie, B. & Brunei, P., 1983. Differences in life history and success between suprabenthic shelf populations of Arrhis phyllonyx (Amphipoda: Gammaridea) in two ecosystems of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 3, 4569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sars, G. O., 1893. Amphipoda. An account of the Crustacea of Norway, with short descriptions and figures of all the species, parts 10–15, pp. 213240. Christiania: Cammermeyer.Google Scholar
Sheader, M., 1978. Distribution and reproductive biology of Corophium insidiosum (Amphipoda) on the N.E. coast of England. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 58, 585596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slattery, P.N., 1985. Life histories of infaunal amphipods from subtidal sands of Monterey Bay, California. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 5, 635649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, R.I., 1955. Salinity variation in interstitial water of sand at Kames Bay, Millport, with reference to the distribution of Nereis diversicolor. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 34, 3346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steele, D.H. & Steele, V.J., 1969. The biology of Gammarus (Crustacea: Amphipoda) in the north-western Atlantic 1. Gammarus duebeni Lillj. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 47, 235244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watkin, E.E., 1941. Observations on the night tidal migrant Crustacea of Kames Bay. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 60, 271280.Google Scholar
Wildish, D.J., 1979. Reproductive consequences of the terrestrial habit in Orchestia (Crustacea: Amphipoda). International Journal of Invertebrate Reproduction, 1, 920.CrossRefGoogle Scholar