A laboratory-based study was performed to assess the impact of climate warming on the recruitment of the endangered population of the European lobster (Homarus gammarus) at Helgoland (North Sea, German Bight). Egg-bearing females collected in situ just after spawning in late summer were subjected to various seasonal temperature regimes. Regimes with elevated temperatures (mild winters) resulted...

described as a stenohaline, non-regulating crustacean (Gilles, 1975; Péqueux, 1995). Indeed, this lobster may be considered to be an osmoconformer when living in sea water; however, when confronted with dilute sea water, the lobster hyperregulates its haemolymph osmolarity and by doing so it is able to survive salinities as low as 17 ‰ (Charmantier et al., 1984a,b). Because these animals may ex...

We studied the developmental acquisition of three of the cotransmitters found in the gastropyloric receptor (GPR) neurons of the stomatogastric nervous systems of the lobsters Homarus americanus and Homarus gammarus. By using wholemount immunocytochemistry and confocal microscopy, we examined the distribution of serotonin-like, allatostatin-like, and FLRF(NH2)-like immunoreactivities within the...

Gaffkaemia, caused by Aerococcus viridans var. homari, causes fatal infections in Homarus spp. (clawed lobsters). Despite its high economic significance to the lobster fisheries in the USA and northern Europe, data on its prevalence in captured and wild populations, particularly in Europe, is scarce. Following an outbreak of gaffkaemia in a European lobster holding facility in South Wales (UK),...

The vertical distribution and swimming ability of the three larval stages (Zoea I, II, and III) of Homarus gammarus were determined in laboratory experiments. In an artificial water column, newly hatched larvae were positively phototactic to white light at intensities near 0.6 mmol m 2 s . The positive phototactic behaviour decreased with increasing larval age and stage. Accordingly, older larv...

Crustacean crustacyanin proteins are linked to the production and modification of carapace colour, with direct implications for fitness and survival. Here, the structural and functional properties of the two recombinant crustacyanin subunits H(1) and H(2) from the American lobster Homarus americanus are reported. The two subunits are structurally highly similar to the corresponding natural apo ...

—Three species of nephropid lobsters have been recognized in the genus Homarus: the American and European lobsters, H. americanus and H. gammarus of the northwestern and northeastern Atlantic, respectively, and the Cape lobster of South Africa, H. capensis, few specimens of which have been studied until recently. Analysis of new specimens allows reconsideration of the systematic status of this ...

Multidrug/xenobiotic resistance transporters are present in living organisms as a first line defence system against small, potentially harmful molecules from the environment or from internal metabolic reactions. Multidrug resistance associated proteins (MRP) are one type of ATP-Binding-Cassette (ABC) transporters, which also transport dyes such as Fura 2, a calcium chelating fluorescence indica...