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Full-Text Articles in Marine Biology
Molting In The Mature Female Blue Crab, Callinectes Sapidus, Rathbun, Kirk J. Havens
Molting In The Mature Female Blue Crab, Callinectes Sapidus, Rathbun, Kirk J. Havens
OES Theses and Dissertations
The present study examines the hypothesis that mature female blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus, do not have a terminal anecdysis. Induced molting via eyestalk ablation, size frequency distributions and gonad and limb regeneration indices from field collected animals are used as indicators of potential post maturity molts.
Eyestalk ablation of mature females resulted in ecdysis approximately 51 days after ablation, indicating a physiological ability if mature females to complete ecdysis. Analysis of size frequency distributions indicates two distinct shifts from smaller to larger females, one in early spring and a second in early fall. While migration of larger females into …
Phytoplankton Dynamics In The Very Low Salinity Region Of The James River Estuary, Virginia, U.S.A., Changho Moon
Phytoplankton Dynamics In The Very Low Salinity Region Of The James River Estuary, Virginia, U.S.A., Changho Moon
OES Theses and Dissertations
During summer and autumn discharge from the James River estuary, Virginia, was less than 120 m3sec-1. There was a peak phytoplankton biomass in the very low salinity region (defined as the location where surface salinity measured less than 0.5$ 0/00) and this peak represented five to ten times greater biomass than adjacent waters. The peak biomass occurred independent of the tidal state and the location of nutrient inputs. It disappeared during winter and spring, and nutrient limitation was not responsible for the low phytoplankton biomass, indicating there were physical, not chemical controlling factors.
The peak biomass …