Physiological stress associated with physical trauma during transportation of the Norway lobster, Nephrops norvegicus
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Abstract
The Norway lobster, Nephrops norvegicus is a valuable European decapod, particularly when sold live, although along the supply chain lobsters experience a range of extreme stressors during and immediately after capture, and onward transportation. To improve quality and quantity of live product, laboratory experiments and transport simulations have investigated the effect of stress, particularly emersion and temperature, on physiology and the immune system, typically via blood (haemolymph) assays. This study investigated a relatively neglected stressor, physical trauma during transport (i.e. prolonged vibrations) via a simulated transport experiment, following anecdotal evidence that additional cushioning reduced post-transport mortality of N. norvegicus by up to ca. 20%. Baseline (BS) lobsters were sampled shortly after creel capture, and subsamples emersed for 1h, with additional experimental shaking (ES) or as immobile controls (EM). Both emersed treatments showed increased THC and serum glucose, lactate and ammonium, although serum protein and refractive index did not change significantly. Compared to the EM treatment, ES lobsters had significant increases in serum ammonium and glucose. In addition to emersion stress, physical trauma during transport is confirmed as an additional stressor that needs to be considered in transport simulations, whilst straightforward and cheap mitigation of physical trauma (e.g. road vibrations) could improve welfare, survival and recovery.
Cite this as
2016. Physiological stress associated with physical trauma during transportation of the Norway lobster, Nephrops norvegicus. PeerJ PrePrints 4:e1747v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1747v1note This preprint is not peer-reviewed. You may wish to reference the subsequent peer-reviewed version of this article.
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This is a submission to PeerJ for review.
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Supplemental Information
Mortality of Nephrops after transportation
Post-transport mortality of adult females, 14 days after arrival in RAS following four discrete transportation events (9h immersed in a commercial vivier truck, followed by 2h cool, dark and humid emersed transport). Unbroken and broken lines denote transportation with (n=47-56) and without (n=138-144) additional cushioning respectively.
Haemolymph changes in Nephrops before and after simulated transport
Figure 2. Nephrops norvegicus. Haemolymph changes in adults shortly after removal from creels (BS; open bar), after 1h emersed (EM; gray bar) and 1h emersed with shaking (ES; dark bar). A. Serum glucose. B. Serum ammonium. C. Serum lactate. D. Total Haemocyte Count. E. Serum protein. F. Refractive Index. Different letters, or letters uncommon between bars denote significant difference between treatments at P ≤0.05% confidence limit or greater. Absence of letters, or letters common to bars denote no significant difference. Data shown + 1 SEM, n=14-24.
Haemolymph changes in Nephrops before and after simulated transport
Figure 2. Nephrops norvegicus. Haemolymph changes in adults shortly after removal from creels (BS; open bar), after 1h emersed (EM; gray bar) and 1h emersed with shaking (ES; dark bar). A. Serum glucose. B. Serum ammonium. C. Serum lactate. D. Total Haemocyte Count. E. Serum protein. F. Refractive Index. Different letters, or letters uncommon between bars denote significant difference between treatments at P ≤0.05% confidence limit or greater. Absence of letters, or letters common to bars denote no significant difference. Data shown + 1 SEM, n=14-24.
Haemolymph changes in Nephrops before and after simulated transport
Figure 2. Nephrops norvegicus. Haemolymph changes in adults shortly after removal from creels (BS; open bar), after 1h emersed (EM; gray bar) and 1h emersed with shaking (ES; dark bar). A. Serum glucose. B. Serum ammonium. C. Serum lactate. D. Total Haemocyte Count. E. Serum protein. F. Refractive Index. Different letters, or letters uncommon between bars denote significant difference between treatments at P ≤0.05% confidence limit or greater. Absence of letters, or letters common to bars denote no significant difference. Data shown + 1 SEM, n=14-24.
Additional Information
Competing Interests
Magnus L Johnson is an Academic Editor for PeerJ.
Author Contributions
Adam Powell conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables.
Daniel M Cowing conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Susanne P Eriksson contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Magnus L Johnson performed the experiments, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Data Deposition
The following information was supplied regarding data availability:
Please see supplemental files
Funding
These data were generated as part of an ASSEMBLE grant “NephRef” awarded to the Hull University and Swansea University authors based at the The Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Sciences Kristineberg, and from the “NEPHROPS” project (EU Framework 7, Research for the benefit of SME-AG, number 286903). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
