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First published online March 30, 2006
Journal of Experimental Biology 209, 1487-1501 (2006)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2006
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02167

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Ontogeny of osmoregulation in embryos of intertidal crabs (Hemigrapsus sexdentatus and H. crenulatus, Grapsidae, Brachyura): putative involvement of the embryonic dorsal organ

Deepani Seneviratna and H. H. Taylor^*

School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8020, New Zealand

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: harry.taylor{at}canterbury.ac.nz)

Accepted 13 February 2006

This study examined whether the existence of hyperosmotic internal fluids in embryos of euryhaline crabs (Hemigrapsus sexdentatus and H. crenulatus) in dilute seawater reflects osmotic isolation due to impermeability of the egg envelope, as proposed for other decapods, or active osmoregulation. When ovigerous crabs with eggs at gastrula stage were transferred from 100% seawater (osmolality 1000 mmol kg^–1) to 50% seawater, embryogenesis and hatching of zoea were completed normally, but were delayed. Hatching failed if the transfer to 50% seawater occurred before gastrulation, and embryogenesis was abnormal in 25% seawater. In 100% seawater, embryos at all stages were internally hyperosmotic by 150–250 mmol kg^–1. On transfer to 50% seawater, osmolality initially decreased but remained 200–350 mmol kg^–1 hyperosmotic to the medium for several weeks until hatching. High efflux rates of tritium-labelled water (t_1/2 16–75 min) and ²²Na (t_1/2 109–374 min) from H. crenulatus embryos were inconsistent with the osmotic isolation hypothesis. It is concluded that post-gastrula embryos were actively hyper-osmoregulating. The diffusional water permeability of the embryos decreased during development while the sodium efflux rate increased 10-fold. Very rapidly exchanging pools of water and sodium (t_1/2 a few seconds to minutes) probably corresponded to peri-embryonic fluid and implied that the egg envelope was a negligible barrier to diffusion of water and salts. Higher Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase activities in late embryos of H. crenulatus incubated in 50% seawater than in embryos incubated in full strength seawater were consistent with an acclimation response. An area of the embryonic surface located over the yolk in the region of the embryonic dorsal organ stained with AgNO₃. Staining appeared at gastrulation, persisted throughout development and was lost at hatching. Deposits of AgCl between the outer and inner membranes, identified by X-ray microanalysis, suggest that the dorsal organ was a site of chloride extrusion. A model for osmoregulation in post-gastrula embryos is proposed: osmotic uptake of water is balanced by excretion of water and salts via the dorsal organ and salt loss is balanced by active uptake over the general embryonic ectoderm.

Key words: crab, Hemigrapsus, osmoregulation, excretion, development, water permeability, sodium transport, embryonic dorsal organ, silver staining

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