Phenoptosis

[Invader Xan]

I've heard crustacean keepers talk before about how keeping a crab in the wrong conditions results in a condition termed "creeping death". I'm sure lots of people have heard of it -- the animal becomes inactive, stops eating, starts to drop limbs and eventually dies.
I don't know about anyone else, but to me, this sounds like a process I've heard about called phenoptosis.

Phenoptosis is the gradual programmed breakdown of an entire living organism. Essentially, when subjected to certain conditions, the creature simply degenerates and dies. This happens in a range of organisms from yeasts to marsupial mice, though apparently, the mechanism is in place in several species of fish. A particular example is salmon immediately after spawning.

If you catch salmon right after they spawn... you find they have huge adrenal glands, peptic ulcers and kidney lesions, their immune systems have collapsed... [and they] have stupendously high glucocortocoid concentrations in their bloodstreams. When salmon spawn, regulation of their glucocortocoid secretion breaks down... But is the glucocorticoid excess really responsible for their death? Yup. Take a salmon right after spawning, remove its adrenals, and it will live for a year afterward.

Does anyone know of any other aquarium animals that degenerate in such a way? If so, this process could be involved.
Any thoughts?

 

[steelhealr]

Invader....I think perhaps, if you wanted to get this discussion going, you should research as you have...and present some data on this. Have any studies been done? Do you know of any studies with controls, eg, crabs kept in perfect conditions and crabs kept in conditions not typical to their regular biotope? SH

 

[Invader Xan]

Hmmm... my apologies if I was a little premature in making this post.

Actually, the main reason for my post was because to my knowledge, no studies have been carried out (many invertebrates seem somewhat under-researched). Or at least, no studies I've been able to find. As such, although I looked hard, I couldn't find much data to present. Actually, I was hoping someone from this board might be able to point me towards some good sources (biology isn't my specialty as such).

 

[Bignose]

Xan, you are going to want to go to a university library and ask for help looking though one of the scientific paper databases. Lexus Nexus, or Web of Science, or one of the other ones out there. scholar.google.com is freely available, but the papers usually aren't, it also isn't too great, really. Most university libraries may not have everything, but they would be able to get you almost anything via interlibrary loan.

 

[Invader Xan]

Ok cheers. Are there any particular journals you know of which might cover decapod biology?