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Journal of Experimental Biology 38,291-299 (1961)
Published by Company of Biologists 1961

The Influence of Water-Loading and Low Temperature on Certain Functional Aspects of the Crayfish Antennal Gland

J. A. RIEGEL ¹

¹ Department of Zoology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washingto; Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, England

1. The influence of water-loading and low-temperature stress on the physiology of the antennal gland was studied in specimens of the freshwater crayfish, Orconectes virilis.

2. The results of experiments on water-loading suggested that the crayfishes were able to excrete water injected into them, but they did so at the expense of an abnormal loss of salts (sodium). Heavy water-loads caused large and prolonged increases in inulin clearances and urine flow.

3. Low temperature had its primary effect in reducing urine flow and inulin clearance. Low temperature apparently had little effect on the rate of sodium excretion or intensity of water excretion.

4. The urine flow (at 16°C.) of specimens of O. virilis was determined to be 3% of the body weight per 24 hr. This value agreed with the urine flow calculated from average inulin clearances and inulin U/B ratios obtained independently upon specimens of the same species.

5. The results presented in the present paper throw further light upon the function of the crayfish antennal gland. They agree fairly closely with results obtained in other animals where filtration is known to play a role in primary urine formation. However, because of limitations imposed, principally by the lack of morphological evidence for a filtration site in the crayfish kidney, it cannot be stated unequivocally that the crayfish antennal gland is a filtration kidney.

The writer wishes to express his gratitude to Dr Leonard B. Kirschner, of Washington State University, for permitting free use of his facilities during the period of this study. Thanks are also given to Dr A. P. M. Lockwood, of Cambridge University, and Dr P. A. Dehnel, of the University of British Columbia, for reading portions of the manuscript.

Note:

This investigation was supported by a Post-doctoral Research Fellowship from the National Heart Institute, U.S. Public Health Service.