A commercial starfish mop was deployed from a fishing boat in
Belfast Lough (54° 40′ 24.99″ N; 5° 52′ 31.97″ W) to collect starfish
(A. rubens). Starfish were divided into three size classes, representative
of the population structure as found on benthic mussel beds in Belfast
Lough, based on their mean longest arm length (small = 46.1 mm ±
0.64 SE; medium = 70.1 ± 0.69 SE; large = 94.1 mm ± 0.69 SE).
Starfish were returned to Queen's University Marine Laboratory and
were assigned randomly to individual 45 L mesocosm tanks which
were arranged over 10 sea tables, each holding 11 tanks. Tanks were
supplied with sand filtered seawater, with a salinity of 36 and mean
temperature of 6.9 °C ± 0.02, from Strangford Lough via overhead
dump buckets to ensure water remained aerated and was continually
renewed (Mrowicki and O′Connor, 2014). Starfish were randomly
assigned to each mesocosm tank and were held for 7 days without
food prior to the start of each experiment (Hummel et al., 2011). This
acclimation period also allowed us to identify and remove any starfish
that dropped limbs as a result of handling stress
A commercial starfish mop was deployed from a fishing boat inBelfast Lough (54° 40′ 24.99″ N; 5° 52′ 31.97″ W) to collect starfish(A. rubens). Starfish were divided into three size classes, representativeof the population structure as found on benthic mussel beds in BelfastLough, based on their mean longest arm length (small = 46.1 mm ±0.64 SE; medium = 70.1 ± 0.69 SE; large = 94.1 mm ± 0.69 SE).Starfish were returned to Queen's University Marine Laboratory andwere assigned randomly to individual 45 L mesocosm tanks whichwere arranged over 10 sea tables, each holding 11 tanks. Tanks weresupplied with sand filtered seawater, with a salinity of 36 and meantemperature of 6.9 °C ± 0.02, from Strangford Lough via overheaddump buckets to ensure water remained aerated and was continuallyrenewed (Mrowicki and O′Connor, 2014). Starfish were randomlyassigned to each mesocosm tank and were held for 7 days withoutfood prior to the start of each experiment (Hummel et al., 2011). Thisacclimation period also allowed us to identify and remove any starfishthat dropped limbs as a result of handling stress
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..
