Effects of eyestalk removal in crabs: Relation to normal premolt

✍ Scribed by Spaziani, Eugene ;Ostedgaard, Lynda S. ;Vensel, William H. ;Hegmann, Joseph P.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 406 KB
• Volume: 221
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1402210307

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Thirty‐six measured variables were compared in crabs de‐eye‐stalked (DE) for 24 hours to 45 days and with normal animals well advanced in the premolt stage of the molting cycle. DE crabs generally differed from premolts in water and ion composition of carapace and blood, but not in organ water content, and differences were independent of time after DE. Furthermore, acute (24‐hour) DE animals displayed 30‐fold higher uptake of cholesterol‐^14^C in Y‐organs (four to fivefold higher in hepatopancreas and hypodermis) than premolts; uptakes dropped to premolt levels in long‐term DE animals. It is concluded that acute and long‐term de‐eyestalking induce abnormalities in several physiological parameters but also induce changes in cholesterol processing suggestive of normal early and late premolt stages, respectively.