Vol. 53 - Alaska Resources Library and Information Services

The third reproductive effect involving eggs and embryos is uptake
of hydrocarbons directly from bottom or interstitial water (female Chionoecetes
may bury in the sediment while carrying an egg clutch) where
sediment levels are high by virtue of processes such as deposition of
oil-laden fecal pellets or storm mixing in shallow waters (Manen and
Curl 1981).
No studies of direct hydrocarbon uptake by crab or shrimp
eggs and embryos could be found, but transferal of naphthalenes to
brooding eggs (high in lipids) was reported to occur in the marine polychaete
Neanthes arenaceodentata (Rossi and Anderson 1977) while adsorption
from seawater occurred independent of adults in eggs of the Pacific
herring (Eldridge et al. 1978).
The lethal effect such exposure can
have on developing embryos was shown by Tatem (1977) who exposed gravid
female shrimps (Palaemonetes pugio) to 1.44 mg/l WSF for 72 hr.
One
week later control females released an average of 45 larvae each while
those exposed to oil released only 9 each.
Further studies of oil toxicity
to developing eggs is warranted in light of possible oil impacts to
red and blue king crabs that reproduce in relatively shallow, nearshore
areas. Since oil degrades slowly in the sediments of very cold arctic
waters (little change in quantity and composition after one year in
tests cited by Curl and Manen 1982; Butler and Levy 1978; Mayo et al.
1978), and since female king and Tanner crabs brood eggs for eleven
months (Sections 3.0 and 4.0), protracted exposure of eggs to hydrocarbons
can result from oil spills that reach extensive areas of reproductive
grounds.
An additional mechanism of oil-related stress on crustacean reproduction
might involve impairment of copulation that results in a high
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