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Activities of metabolic enzymes in the deep-water crabsChaceon fenneri andC. quinquedens and the shallow-water crabCallinectes sapidus

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Abstract

The activities of 18 enzymes were measured in gill, hepatopancreas and muscle tissue of the deep-water crabsChaceon fenneri andC. quinquedens and the shallow-water crabCallinectes sapidus collected from the Gulf of Mexico in January 1989. The activities of catabolic enzymes were correlated in general with the known metabolic rates of the three species. Activities were much higher inC. sapidus than inChaceon fenneri andC. quinquedens. In some cases,C. quinquedens had higher activities thanC. fenneri. The activities of enzymes of amino acid metabolism (glutamate dehydrogenase and alanine aminotransferase) were higher inC. quinquedens, which had high hemolymph [ammonia] and ammonia excretion rates. The activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) ofC. fenneri andC. quinquedens were correlated with the two species' abilities to withstand hypoxia. The more hypoxiatolerant species,C. quinquedens, had higher activity of LDH in its muscles than didC. fenneri.

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Communicated by J.M. Lawrence, Tampa

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Walsh, P.J., Henry, R.P. Activities of metabolic enzymes in the deep-water crabsChaceon fenneri andC. quinquedens and the shallow-water crabCallinectes sapidus . Mar. Biol. 106, 343–346 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01344310

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