Copper, zinc and haemocyanin concentrations in four caridean decapods (Crustacea): size relationships

The relationships between individual dry weight and body content of the essential metals copper and zinc and of the respiratory pigment haemocyanin have been investigated in four British species of caridean decapod crustaceans, Palaemon elegans, Palaemon longirostris, Palaemonetes varians and Crangon crangon. Also considered were the body concentrations of soluble copper and copper associated with haemocyanin. These decapods regulate total body concentrations of copper and zinc to approximately constant levels which can vary interspecifically. An attempt is made to interpret these regulated concentrations in terms of essential requirements for the metals in the physiological functioning of haemocyanin, the body concentration of which varies interspecifically and intraspecifically with environmental variables.