QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online April 18, 2008
Journal of Experimental Biology 211, 1512-1519 (2008)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2008
doi: 10.1242/jeb.012930

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplementary Material Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Wade, N. M. Articles by Hall, M. R. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wade, N. M. Articles by Hall, M. R.

Control of shell colour changes in the lobster, Panulirus cygnus

Nicholas M. Wade^1,2, Roy Melville-Smith³, Bernard M. Degnan¹ and Michael R. Hall^2,*

¹ School of Integrative Biology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia
² Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB3, Townsville, Queensland, 4810, Australia
³ Western Australian Marine Research Laboratories, PO Box 20, North Beach, Western Australia, 6020, Australia

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: m.hall{at}aims.gov.au)

Accepted 3 March 2008

The transition from juvenile to adult in the Australian western rock lobster, Panulirus cygnus (George), is preceded by a mass migration from inshore nursery reefs to offshore breeding grounds. Associated with this migration is a moult which results in the animals that are due to migrate undergoing characteristic colour change from deep red to pale pink, known as the `white' phase, which is believed to be triggered by environmental factors. To investigate this phenomenon, the colour change of wild-caught animals was measured over two separate years in response to two important modifiers of crustacean shell colour, dietary carotenoid and background substrate colour. Changes in shell colour during this colour transition period were influenced more greatly by other factors independent of diet or background substrate and no mass colour change was induced during this time. Shell colour measurement and carotenoid quantification confirmed the presence of animals similar to wild-caught `whites', regardless of the treatment. From these experimental observations we infer that the `white' phase of the western rock lobster is not triggered by dietary modification or in response to background substrate. We propose that this transition is under the regulation of an ontogenetic program activated at a specific moult, which induces presently unidentified molecular changes linked to shell colour production. This unique colour transition may have evolved to provide protective camouflage during migration, and serves as an excellent model to study the genetic mechanisms underlying crustacean shell colouration. These data also provide insight into the changes in carotenoid levels induced by environmental factors, and the ability to modify crustacean shell colour in aquaculture.

Key words: carotenoid, crustacean, modification, diet