The role of environmental conditions in the seasonal synthesis and utilisation of biochemical energy reserves in the giant scallop, Placopecten magellanicus

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Zoology
• Main Authors: Thompson, R. J., MacDonald, B. A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1990
• Subjects: Animal Science and Zoology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z90-108; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z90-108

Throughout most of the year, carbohydrate and lipid levels in the somatic tissue of scallops from 31 m depth at Sunnyside, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, were lower than corresponding levels in scallops from 10 m depth at the same location, resulting in a higher energy content per unit weight in the latter group. In the gonad, however, there was no difference between the groups in the concentrations of carbohydrate and lipid. The absolute quantities of these biochemical constituents in both gonad and somatic tissue were greater in scallops from shallow water, owing to their higher body weight. Thus, in the poorer conditions associated with deeper water at this site, scallops maintained carbohydrate and lipid pools in the gonad but did not accumulate somatic energy reserves to the same extent as did scallops from shallow water where conditions were more favourable. Individuals from 31 m were therefore less well buffered against environmental stress than those from 10 m. Biochemical energy reserves were deposited during and after the spring bloom, but not in the period after spawning. The loss of somatic carbohydrate during overwintering was greater in scallops from 31 m, and only in this group was there any utilisation of carbohydrate and lipid in winter.