LOBSTER BEHAVIOR AND CHEMORECEPTION: 



SUBLETHAL EFFECTS OF 



NO. 2 FUEL OIL 



Jelle Atema, Elisa B. Karnofsky 

 and Susan Oleszko-Szuts 



Boston University IVIarine Program 



Marine Biological Laboratory 

 Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543 



ABSTRACT 



Lobsters (Homanis americamts) were exposed in a flow-through oil dosing 

 system to the water-accommodated fraction of #2 fuel oil. Behavioral 

 observations of feeding efficiency and general behavior, showed that 5-day 

 exposure to 0.08 and 0.15 ppm caused significant delays in feeding, without 

 causing severe neuromuscular defects. Exposure to 1.5 ppm caused gross 

 neuromuscular defects within 24 hours. Recovery was proportional to the 

 gravity of observed defects. Neurophysiological experiments on antennular 

 chemoreceptors of behaviorally observed animals showed that oil is perceived 

 as a chemical stimulus, and can change normal responses to food juices. 

 Oil-exposed animals show abnormal, bursting spike patterns, both 

 spontaneously and in response to food juice. It remains to be proven that low 

 level exposure effects are due to oil interference with chemoreception. This 

 is a report on preliminary data. 



INTRODUCTION 



Each year more evidence appears which demonstrates the importance of 

 chemical signals in the lives of marine animals. The following are just a few 

 examples of the broad categories of behavior where chemical signals are of vital 

 importance: feeding behavior, both the predator's detection of live prey and 

 the scavenger's localization of dead bait; the prey's alarm and escape behavior; 

 mating behavior and mate selection; parental brood recognition; and the 

 selection of suitable geographic locations, as in larval settling and homestream 

 return of migratory species. Interference vnth chemical signals or vdth the 

 receptors that evolved to receive them could therefore jeopardize animal 

 survival without causing immediately obvious deleterious effects on the 

 individual. Man's chemical discharges into the environment, such as large 

 amounts of petroleum hydrocarbons in coastal areas, may cause such 

 interference. 



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