Effects of Trichodesmium spp. blooms on penaeid prawn larvae |
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Authors: | N P Preston M A Burford D J Stenzel |
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Affiliation: | (1) CSIRO Division of Marine Research, Marine Laboratories, P.O. Box 120, Cleveland 4163, Queensland, Australia FAX: +7-3826 7222 e-mail: first.last@marine.csiro.au, AU;(2) Analytical Electron Microscopy Facility, Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Queensland 4001, Australia, AU |
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Abstract: | The effects of blooms of the cyanobacterium Trichodesmium spp. on penaeid prawn larvae were examined using in situ and laboratory rearing experiments and plankton surveys in Albatross
Bay, Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia. The in situ experiments demonstrated that, during a bloom of Trichodesmium spp., larvae of the prawn Penaeus merguiensis did not develop beyond the first protozoea stage, and survival was low compared with times when diatoms were dominant in
the same study area. Laboratory experiments confirmed the in situ results. None of the prawn larvae fed Trichodesmium sp. in laboratory experiments developed beyond the first protozoeal stage. In contrast, 94% of prawn larvae fed the green
flagellate Tetraselmis suecica successfully developed to the second protozoea stage. Electron microscopy of larvae gut-contents revealed that Trichodesmium spp. were ingested by larvae but were of no nutritional value, resulting in starvation. A 7 yr plankton survey, from 1985
to 1992, showed that minimum abundance of prawn larvae occurs during the annual summer blooms of Trichodesmium spp. and that maximum abundance of prawn larvae generally occurs just after the bloom. There was a negative correlation between
the abundance of larvae and the abundance of Trichodesmium at individual sites, one offshore and one inshore, indicating that the blooms affect the survival of larvae. We conclude that
variations in both timing and magnitude of Trichodesmium blooms are important determinants of prawn larvae abundance in Albatross Bay.
Received: 28 April 1997 / Accepted: 2 April 1998 |
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