Seawater carbonate chemistry and biological parameters of Sepia officinalis during experiments, 2009, supplement to: Gutowska, Magdalena A; Melzner, Frank (2009): Abiotic conditions in cephalopod (Sepia officinalis) eggs: embryonic development at low pH and high pCO2. Marine Biology, 156(3), 515-519

• Main Authors: Gutowska, Magdalena A, Melzner, Frank
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science 2009
• Subjects: Animalia; Containers and aquaria 20-1000 L or < 1 m**2; Laboratory experiment; Laboratory strains; Mollusca; Nekton; Not applicable; Pelagos; Reproduction; FOS Medical biotechnology; Sepia officinalis; Single species; Salinity; Temperature, water; pH; Carbon dioxide, partial pressure; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide water at sea surface temperature wet air; Oxygen; Ammonium; Nitrite; Nitrate; Alkalinity, total; Carbon, inorganic, dissolved; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Fugacity of carbon dioxide water at sea surface temperature wet air; Bicarbonate ion; Carbonate ion; Aragonite saturation state; Calcite saturation state; Sepia officinalis, embryo, mass, wet; Sepia officinalis, haemolymph O2; Sepia officinalis, haemolymph pCO2; Sepia officinalis, haemolymph pH; Sepia officinalis, haemolymph, bicarbonate ion; WTW 340i pH-analyzer and WTW SenTix 81-electrode; Calculated; Calculated using CO2SYS; Conductivity meter WTW, Weilheim, Gemany; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. 2010; European network of excellence for Ocean Ecosystems Analysis EUR-OCEANS; European Project on Ocean Acidification EPOCA; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre OA-ICC; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.758066; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.758066

Low pO2 values have been measured in the perivitelline fluids (PVF) of marine animal eggs on several occasions, especially towards the end of development, when embryonic oxygen consumption is at its peak and the egg case acts as a massive barrier to diffusion. Several authors have therefore suggested that oxygen availability is the key factor leading to hatching. However, there have been no measurements of PVF pCO2 so far. This is surprising, as elevated pCO2 could also constitute a major abiotic stressor for the developing embryo. As a first attempt to fill this gap in knowledge, we measured pO2, pCO2 and pH in the PVF of late cephalopod (Sepia officinalis) eggs. We found linear relationships between embryo wet mass and pO2, pCO2 and pH. pO2 declined from >12 kPa to less than 5 kPa, while pCO2 increased from 0.13 to 0.41 kPa. In the absence of active accumulation of bicarbonate in the PVF, pH decreased from 7.7 to 7.2. Our study supports the idea that oxygen becomes limiting in cephalopod eggs towards the end of development; however, pCO2 and pH shift to levels that have caused significant physiological disturbances in other marine ectothermic animals. Future research needs to address the physiological adaptations that enable the embryo to cope with the adverse abiotic conditions in their egg environment. : In order to allow full comparability with other ocean acidification data sets, the R package seacarb (Lavigne and Gattuso, 2011) was used to compute a complete and consistent set of carbonate system variables, as described by Nisumaa et al. (2010). In this dataset the original values were archived in addition with the recalculated parameters (see related PI).