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Does the effect of low temperature on osmoregulation by the prawn Palaemon elegans Rathke, 1837 explain winter migration offshore?

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Abstract

Osmoregulation by the European glass prawn Palaemon elegans Rathke, 1837 was impaired at low temperature (2°C) and high salinities (full strength sea water 35 PSU). Under these conditions, small individuals showed stronger osmoregulatory ability than larger individuals. This observation could partially explain differences in winter migrations off the UK coast where mainly large P. elegans go offshore, leaving smaller individuals in high shore rock pools, a finding consistent with winter experiments in situ.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Simon Rundle for help in collection, and Mal Jones for reading and commenting on early drafts of this manuscript. This study was funded by the Polish Ministry of Scientific Research and Information Technology Project Number 127/E-335/S/2005 and grant No. BW/ 1350-5-0078-6. The authors acknowledge the support by the MarBEF Network of Excellence “Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning” which is funded by the Sustainable Development, Global Change and Ecosystems Programme of the European Community’s Sixth Framework Programme (contract no. GOCE-CT-2003-505446). This publication is contribution number MPS-07091 of MarBEF.

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Correspondence to Urszula Janas.

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Communicated by U. Sommer.

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Janas, U., Spicer, J.I. Does the effect of low temperature on osmoregulation by the prawn Palaemon elegans Rathke, 1837 explain winter migration offshore?. Mar Biol 153, 937–943 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-007-0865-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-007-0865-z

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