Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-bkrcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-19T07:58:14.878Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Burrowing behaviour and anaerobiosis in the bivalve Arctica islandica (L.)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

A. C. Taylor
A. C. Taylor
Affiliation:
Department of Marine Biology, University of Liverpool, Port Erin, Isle of Man
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In laboratory tanks as well as in the sea Arctica islandica shows a pattern of intermittent burrowing activity. Periods spent at the surface of the deposit alternate with periods buried several centimetres beneath the surface of the sand, during which the animals respire anaerobically. There is no obvious rhythmicity to this behaviour; the duration of periods spent beneath the surface is very variable even in the same animal, but normally lasts between 1 and 7 days.

On the return to aerobic conditions both the heart rate and oxygen consumption areincreased but decline gradually during the following 20–25 h. This increased oxygen uptake is caused primarily by an increase in oxygen utilization but there is little change in ventilation rate. Both the initial rate of oxygen consumption and the duration of the recovery period show a correlation with the duration of the period of anaerobiosis. The concentration of alaninc in the blood of Arctica is high immediately after the return to aerobic conditions but declines during the recovery period. The similarity in the time taken for the concentration of alanine in the blood and the oxygen consumption of Arctica to return to normal levels suggests that at least part of this increased oxygen demand is associated with the metabolism of end-products of anaerobiosis.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 56 , Issue 1 , February 1976 , pp. 95 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1976

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Badman, D. G. & Chin, S. L., 1973. Metabolic responses of the fresh-water bivalve Pleurobema coccineum (Conrad), to anaerobic conditions. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 44B, 27–32.Google Scholar
Bayne, B. L., 1971. Ventilation, the heart beat and oxygen uptake by Mytilus edulis L. in declining ambient oxygen tension. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 40A, 1065–85.Google Scholar
Berkeley, C., 1921. Anaerobic respiration in some pelecypod mollusks. The relation of anaerobic respiration to glycogen. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 46, 579–98.Google Scholar
Boyden, C. R., 1972. The behaviour, survival and respiration of the cockles Cerastoderma edule and C. glaucum in air. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 52, 661–80.Google Scholar
Brand, A. R., 1968. Some adaptations to the burrowing habit in the Class Bivalvia. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Hull.Google Scholar
Brand, A. R. & Roberts, D., 1973. The cardiac responses of the scallop Pecten maximus (L.) to respiratory stress. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 13, 29–43.Google Scholar
Brand, A. R. & Taylor, A. C., 1974. Pumping activity of Arctica islandica (L.) and some other common bivalves. Marine Behaviour and Physiology, 3, 1–15.Google Scholar
Coleman, N. & Trueman, E. R., 1971. The effect of aerial exposure on the activity of the mussels Mytilus edulis L. and Modiolus modiolus (L.). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 7, 295–304.Google Scholar
Collip, J. B., 1921. A further study of the respiratory processes in Mya arenaria and other marine mollusca. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 49, 297–310.Google Scholar
Dugal, L. P., 1939. The use of calcareous shell to buffer the product of anaerobic glycolysis in Venus mercenaria. Journal of Cellular and Comparative Physiology, 13, 235–51.Google Scholar
Helm, M. M. & Trueman, E. R., 1967. The effect of exposure on the heart rate of the mussel, Mytilus edulis L. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 21, 171–7.Google Scholar
Hers, M. J., 1943. Relation entre respiration et circulation chez Anodonta cygnea L. Annales de la Société royale zoologique de Belgique, 74, 45–54.Google Scholar
Hochachka, P. W., Fields, J. & Mustafa, T., 1973. Animal life without oxygen: basic bio-chemical mechanisms. American Zoologist, 13, 543–55.Google Scholar
Hochachka, P. W. & Mustafa, T., 1972. Invertebrate facultative anaerobiosis. Science, New York, 178, 1056–60.Google Scholar
Karandeeva, O. G., 1959. Certain aspects of the metabolism of Modiola phaseolina and Mytilus galloprovincialis in anaerobic and arranged aerobic conditions. Trudy Sevastopol'skoǐ biologicheskoǐ stantsii. Akademiya nauk SSSR, 11, 238–53.Google Scholar
Mangum, C. & Van Winkle, W., 1973. Responses of aquatic invertebrates to declining oxygen conditions. American Zoologist, 13, 529–41.Google Scholar
Moon, T. W. & Pritchard, A. W., 1970. Metabolic adaptations in vertically-separated populations of Mytilus californianus Conrad. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 5, 35–46.Google Scholar
Rotthauwe, H. W., 1958. Untersuchungen zur Atmungsphysiologie und Osmoregulation bei Mytilus edulis mit einem kurzen Anhang über die Blutkonzentration von Dreissensia polymorpha in Abhängigkeit vom Elektrolytgehalt des Aussenmediums. Veröffenlichungen des Instituts für Meeresforschungen in Bremerhaven, 5, 143–59.Google Scholar
Schlieper, C., 1955. Die Regulation des Herzschlages der Miesmuschel Mytilus edulis L. bei geöffneten und bei geschlossenen Schalen. Kieler Meeresforschungen, 11, 139–48.Google Scholar
Schlieper, C., 1957. Comparative study of Asterias rubens and Mytilus edulis from the North Sea (30 per 1,000 S) and the western Baltic Sea (15 per 1,000 S). Année biologique, 33, 117–27.Google Scholar
Stokes, T. M. & Awapara, J., 1968. Alanine and succinate as end-products of glucose degradation in the clam Rangia cuneata. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 25, 883–92.Google Scholar
Taylor, A. C. & Brand, A. R., 1975. A comparative study of the respiratory responses of the bivalves Arctica islandica (L.) and Mytilus edulis L. to declining oxygen tension. Proceedings of the Royal Society (B), 190, 443–56.Google Scholar
Trueman, E. R., 1967. Activity and heart rate of bivalve molluscs in their natural habitat. Nature, London, 214, 832–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Dam, L, 1935. On the utilization of oxygen by Mya arenaria. Journal of Experimental Biology, 12, 86–94.Google Scholar
Von Brand, T., 1946. Anaerobiosis in invertebrates. Biodynamica Monographs, 4, 328 pp.Google Scholar
Zwann, A. De & Van Marrewijk, W. J. A., 1973. Anaerobic glucose degradation in the sea mussel Mytilus edulis L. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 44B, 429–39.Google Scholar
Zwann, A. De & Zandee, D. I., 1972. The utilization of glycogen and accumulation of some intermediates during anaerobiosis in Mytilus edulis L. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 43B, 47–54.Google Scholar