Experimental studies into growth and ageing of krill 1993-2003

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 2337 See the link below for public details on this project.
---- Public Summary from Project ----
The experimental krill research program is focused on obtaining life history information of use in managing the krill fishery - the largest Antarctic fishery. In particular, the program will concentrate on studies into schooling, growth and ageing of krill.
From the abstracts of some of the referenced papers:
Nucleic acid contents of tissue were determined from field-caught Antarctic krill to determine whether they could be used as an alternative estimator of individual growth rates which can currently only be obtained by labour intensive on-board incubations.  Krill from contrasting growth regimes from early and late summer exhibited differences in RNA-based indices.  There was a significant correlation between the independently measured individual growth rates and the RNA-based indices.  There was a significant correlation between the independently measured individual growth rates and the RNA:DNA ratio and also the RNA concentration of krill tissue, although the strength of the relationship was only modest.  DNA concentration, on average, was relatively constant, irrespective of the growth rates.  The moult stage did not appear to have a significant effect on the nucleic acid contents of tissue.  Overall, the amount of both nucleic acids varied considerably between individuals. Nucleic acid-based indicators may provide information concerning the recent growth and nutritional status of krill and further experimentation under controlled conditions is warranted.  The are, however, reasonably costly and time-consuming measurements.
Growth rates of Antarctic krill Euphausia superba Dana in the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean were measured in 4 summers.  Growth rate was measured using an 'instantaneous growth rate' technique which involved measuring the mean change in length if the uropods at moulting.  In the first 4 days following collection mean growth rates ranged from 0.35 to 7.34% per moult in adults and 2.42 to 9.05% in juveniles.  Mean growth rates of adult and juvenile krill differed between areas and between the different years of the investigation.  When food was restricted under experimental conditions, individual krill began to shrink immediately and mean population growth rates decreased gradually, becoming negative after as little as 7 days.  Populations of krill which exhibited initial growth rates began to shrink later than those which had initially been growing more slowly.
Data were collected on growth rates of krill.
These data were collected as part of ASAC projects 34, 1074, 2220 and 2337.
ASAC_34 - Ecophysiology of Antarctic Krill 'Euphausia superba'
ASAC_1074 - Seasonal growth in krill
ASAC_2220 - Collection of live Antarctic krill
ASAC_2337 - Experimental studies into growth and ageing of krill
The fields in this dataset are:
Field season (eg FS9596 = Field Season 1995-1996) Area (eg Indian Ocean) Cruise Month Date Latitude Longitude Total Number of Krill Dead Krill Moulted Krill Experiment ID Station ID Sample ID Sex Growth (IGR%) (% growth at time of moulting) Uropod Size (mm) Days after capture (when moulted) Standard length

Tags: AMD, AMD/AU, AREA, CEOS, CRUISE, DATE, DEAD KRILL, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES > ARTHROPODS > CRUSTACEANS > EUPHA, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS > PLANKTON > ZOOPLANKTON, EXPERIMENT ID, FIELD SEASON, GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR, GROWTH, KRILL, LABORATORY, LATITUDE, LENGTH, LONGITUDE, MONTH, MOULTED KRILL, OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN, R/V AA > R/V Aurora Australis, SAMPLE, SEX, SHIPS, SOUTHERN OCEAN, STATION, TRAWL, UROPOD SIZE
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network