Abstract
Quantitative observations of the convulsions elicited in Crangon crangon by hydrostatic pressure in the 10 to 200 atm range showed the following: Instantaneous compression to 10 atm elicits weak, sustained convulsive activity after approximately 1 h. Higher pressures, up to 60 atm, cause vigorous convulsions in a correspondingly reduced time. These persist for at least 71/2 h. At 100 and 120 atm, convulsive activity starts immediately and is rapidly suppressed. In stepwise compression experiments (600, 100, 20 atm h-1) time-dependent convulsive activity and its suppression are also apparent. The mean convulsion threshold pressure for C. crangon at 10°C subjected to 10 atm pressure increments at 6 min intervals (100 atm h-1) is 50 atm (± standard deviation of 3 atm), and for pressure increments of 1.7 atm at 5 min intervals (20 atm h-1) it is 34 atm (± 5 atm). Pressures in the 10 to 100 atm range generate a neurological disturbance which, in time, becomes manifest as convulsive activity, while higher pressures simultaneously suppress activity.
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Communicated by J.H.S. Blaxter, Oban
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Wilcock, S.E., Wann, K.T. & Macdonald, A.G. The motor activity of Crangon crangon subjected to high hydrostatic pressure. Mar. Biol. 45, 1–7 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00388972
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00388972