Salinity Tolerance and Osmoregulation in the Nemertean Pseudocarcinonemertes homari, an Egg Predator of American Lobster, Homarus americanus

Abstract

The salinity tolerance and osmoregulation of Pseudocarcinonemertes homari were determined to develop a method for elimination of this nemertean from egg masses of American lobster, Homarus americanus. The lower and upper lethal salinities (LS50) for nemerteans are 11 and 45‰ at 7 °C and 19 and 37‰ at 14.5 °C. Immersion in freshwater was lethal in 4 min or less, depending on temperature. The nemerteans hyperosmoconformed over the range 10–1600 mosm∙kg−1. Lobster eggs (eye index [Formula: see text]) survived for 2–8 h when immersed in freshwater. Ovigerous lobster were not affected by a 5-min immersion in freshwater and were able to withstand at least 30 min if only the abdomen was immersed. Lobster eggs hatched and larvae developed normally up to at least stage IV, even after a 30-min freshwater immersion. These results suggest that nemerteans could be eliminated from American lobster by immersing their abdomen and attached eggs in freshwater for 5 min and immersing the entire lobster for an additional 5 min.