Metabolic diversity in oceanic animals

Relatively little overlap exists in faunal assemblages in the oceanic waters found north of, and over the reef-like structure south of, Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, USA. To better understand the mechanisms influencing the zoogeography of these animals, metabolic-temperature patterns have been characterized for both larvae and adults of animals collected in waters north and south of Cape Hatteras and from the Caribbean Sea. Southern affinity species from north of Cape Hatteras are the most metabolically labile of the groups, based on seasonal and laboratory-acclimated studies. Adults having a northern affinity found north of Cape Hatteras are metabolically depressed at high temperatures, whereas species from the reef area and the Caribbean are metabolically depressed at low temperatures. Metabolic rates of first stage zoea of crabs from the reef area are depressed at lower temperatures than larvae of the same stage of other species of crabs from the Cape Hatteras region or the Caribbean Sea.Supported by Grant NSF GB 7435 from the National Science Foundation. The authors thank Duke University Marine Laboratory and the Cooperative Program of Biological Oceanography for the use of the R.V. Eastward. The Co-operative Program is supported through the National Science Foundation Grant GB-8189.