Reproductive biology of Orchestia gammarellus (Crustacea: Amphipoda) living in a sewage treatment works

A population of the supralittoral Orchestia gammarellus (Pallas) (Amphipoda: Talitridae), living in a percolating filter of a sewage treatment works has been studied over 12 months. The population showed a seasonal pattern of occurrence, few animals being collected during the winter. The sex ratio w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1993-05, Vol.73 (2), p.405-416
Main Authors: Jones, M. B., Wigham, G. D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Autoecology
Biological and medical sciences
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Marine
Orchestia gammarellus
Protozoa. Invertebrata
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A population of the supralittoral Orchestia gammarellus (Pallas) (Amphipoda: Talitridae), living in a percolating filter of a sewage treatment works has been studied over 12 months. The population showed a seasonal pattern of occurrence, few animals being collected during the winter. The sex ratio was biased significantly to females except during the breeding season when it did not deviate significantly from 1:1. Ovigerous females, never collected in high numbers (1–14 per month), were found from April to August, with peak occurrence in May/June. Juveniles were present throughout the year, but peak recruitment occurred in summer, following the period of reproduction by females. The smallest ovigerous female had a body length of 12.6 mm and the largest measured 20.0 mm. Egg numbers (5–31 per brood) increased with increasing female size and egg volume more than doubled during embryonic development. These findings are discussed in relation to the possible methods of colonization of this unique habitat and the influence of sewage on crustacean life-history traits.
ISSN:0025-3154
1469-7769
DOI:10.1017/S0025315400032951