Detecting and avoiding oxygen deficient sea water by brown shrimp, Penaeus aztecus (Ives), and white shrimp Penaeus setiferus (Linnaeus)

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Abstract

Detection and avoidance of oxygen deficient sea water (≤3.0 ppm dissolved oxygen) by white shrimp, Penaeus setiferus (Linnaeus), and brown shrimp, P. aztecus (Ives), was measured under laboratory conditions. Shrimp were acclimated to control salinity (22%.) and temperature (22°C) for a minimum of 2 days and to the test chamber for l h before recording data. A shrimp's response to treatment water was determined by its (1) response time, i.e., time in min to first entrance into the control side of the chamber, and (2) total time spent in the treatment side of the chamber.

White shrimp detected and significantly avoided intruding water containing ≤1.5 ppm dissolved oxygen. Brown shrimp were more sensitive and avoided water having dissolved oxygen concentrations ≤2.0 ppm. Behavioral responses of white shrimp and brown shrimp to hypoxic water included an initial increase in general level of activity, retreat from hypoxia by walking or swimming, rapid eye-stalk movements, and flexing of their antennal scales. In addition, white shrimp exhibited abdominal flexures and apparent exhaustion.

Hypoxia along coastal Louisiana, west of the Mississippi River Delta, could markedly affect shrimp stocks by increased natural mortality through (1) physiological stress, (2) increased inter- and conspecific competition, and (3) increased predation.

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