Abstract
In this chapter, I first present a brief overview of the hormones (intraorganismal chemical signals) and endocrine glands that have been described in crustaceans. This overview focuses on decapods and the physiological processes of molting, metabolism, reproduction, and pigmentation. The hormones include ecdysteroids (molting hormones), molt-inhibiting hormone, methyl farnesoate, crustacean hyperglycemic hormone, androgenic gland hormone (AGH), and chromatophorotropins. I briefly discuss some of the work on the regulation of crustacean behavior by neurotransmitters, especially in respect to aggressive behavior. Evidence is then presented supporting the role of crustacean hormones as pheromones (intraspecific chemical signals). In particular, I describe the experiments demonstrating that ecdysteroids have pleiotropic activities. These experiments include the observations that ecdysteroids (1) are present in urine in varying amounts over the course of the molt cycle; (2) modulate aggressive behavior in a manner that correlates with hemolymph and urinary hormone levels; and (3) can be detected in the environment by olfactory neurons. There is evidence that the AGH may also act as a mating pheromone. I conclude my chapter by describing how the arthropod molting hormone can act as an allelochemical (interspecific chemical signal) in a pycnogonid (sea spider). Pycnogonids can accumulate high concentrations of ecdysteroids that serve as feeding deterrents against crustaceans that are potential predators.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aiken DE (1973) Proecdysis, setal development, and molt prediction in the American lobster. J Fish Res Board Can 30:1334–1337
Atema J, Gagosian R (1973) Behavioral responses of male lobsters to ecdysones. Mar Behav Physiol 2:15–20
Barki A, Karplus I, Khalaila I, Manor R, Sagi A (2003) Male-like behavioral patterns and physiological alterations induced by androgenic gland implantation in female crayfish. J Exp Biol 206:1791–1797
Böcking D, Dircksen H, Keller R (2002) The crustacean neuropeptides of the CHH/MIH/GIH family: structures and biological activities. In: Wiese K (ed) The crustacean nervous system. Springer, Berlin, pp 84–97
Bolingbroke M, Kass-Simon G (2001) 20-hydroxyecdysone causes increased aggressiveness in female American lobsters, Homarus americanus. Horm Behav 39:144–156
Breithaupt T, Atema J (2000) The timing of chemical signaling with urine in dominance fights of male lobsters (Homarus americanus). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 49:67–78
Bückmann D, Starnecker G, Tomaschko KH, Wilhelm E, Lafont R, Girault JP (1986) Isolation and identification of major ecdysteroids from the Pycnogonum litorale Ström (Arthropoda, Pantopoda). J Comp Physiol 156B:759–765
Chang ES (1989) Endocrine regulation of molting in Crustacea. Rev Aquat Sci 1:131–157
Chang ES (1993) Comparative endocrinology of molting and reproduction: insects and crustaceans. Annu Rev Entomol 38:161–180
Chang ES, Bruce MJ (1980) Ecdysteroid titers of juvenile lobsters following molt induction. J Exp Zool 214:157–160
Chang ES, Kaufman WR (2005) Endocrinology of Crustacea and Chelicerata. In: Gilbert LI, Iatrou K, Gill SS (eds) Comprehensive molecular insect science. Elsevier B.V, Oxford, pp 805–842
Chang ES, Keller R, Chang SA (1998) Quantification of crustacean hyperglycemic hormone by ELISA in hemolymph of the lobster, Homarus americanus, following various stresses. Gen Comp Endocrinol 111:359–366
Chang ES, Sagi A (2008) Male reproductive hormones. In: Mente E (ed) Reproductive biology of crustaceans. Science Publishers, Enfield, pp 299–317
Charniaux-Cotton H (1954) Découverte chez un Crustacé Amphipode (Orchestia gammarella) glande endocrine responsable de la différenciation de caractères sexuels prmaires et secondaires mâles. C R Acad Sci D 239:780–782
Chung JS, Webster SG (2005) Dynamics of in vivo release of molt-inhibiting hormone and crustacean hyperglycemic hormone in the shore crab, Carcinus maenas. Endocrinology 146:5545–5551
Coglianese DL, Cromarty SI, Kass-Simon G (2008) Perception of the steroid hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone modulates agonistic interactions in Homarus americanus. Anim Behav 75:2023–2034
Conklin DE, Chang ES (1983) Grow-out techniques for the American lobster Homarus americanus. In: McVey JP (ed) CRC handbook of mariculture. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 277–286
Cromarty SI, Kass-Simon G (1998) Differential effects of a molting hormone, 20-hydroxyecdysone, on the neuromuscular junctions of the claw opener and abdominal flexor muscles of the American lobster. Comp Biochem Physiol A 120:289–300
Cromarty SI, Mello J, Kass-Simon G (2000) Molt-related and size-dependent differences in the escape response and post-threat behavior of the American lobster, Homarus americanus. Biol Bull 199:265–277
deFur PL, Crane M, Ingersoll C, Tattersfield L (1999) Endocrine disruption in invertebrates: endocrinology, testing, and assessment. SETAC Press, Pensacola
Dunham P (1978) Sex pheromones in Crustacea. Biol Rev 53:555–583
Fukuzawa A, Miyamoto M, Kumagiai Y, Masamune T (1986) Ecdysone-like metabolites, 14[α]-hydroxypinnasterols, from the red alga Laurencia pinnata. Phytochemistry 25:1305–1307
Gagosian R, Atema J (1973) Behavioral responses of male lobsters to ecdysone metabolites. Mar Behav Physiol 2:115–120
Gleeson RA, Adams MA, Smith AB (1984) Characterization of a sex pheromone in the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus: crustecdysone studies. J Chem Ecol 10:913–921
Hardege JD, Jennings A, Hayden D, Muller CT, Pascoe D, Bentley MG, Clare AS (2002) Novel behavioural assay and partial purification of a female-derived sex pheromone in Carcinus maenas. Mar Ecol Progr Ser 244:179–189
Hayden D, Jennings A, Müller C, Pascoe D, Bublitz R, Webb H, Breithaupt T, Watkins L, Hardege JD (2007) Sex-specific mediation of foraging in the shore crab, Carcinus maenas. Horm Behav 52:162–168
Hoffmann KH, Dettner K, Tomaschko K-H (2006) Chemical signals in insects and other arthropods: from molecular structure to physiological functions. Physiol Biochem Zool 79:344–356
Homola E, Chang ES (1997) Methyl farnesoate: crustacean juvenile hormone in search of functions. Comp Biochem Physiol B 117:347–356
Horn DHS, Middleton EJ, Wunderlich JA, Hampshire F (1966) Identity of the moulting hormones of insects and crustaceans. Chem Commun 1966:339–340
Huber R, Orzeszyna M, Pokorny N, Kravitz EA (1997) Biogenic amines and aggression: experimental approaches in crustaceans. Brain Behav Evol 50:60–68
Kittredge J, Terry M, Takahashi F (1971) Sex pheromone activity of the molting hormone, crustecdysone, on male crabs. Fish Bull 69:337–343
Koene JM, ter Maat A (2001) “Allohormones”: a class of bioactive substances favoured by sexual selection. J Comp Physiol A 187:323–326
Kravitz EA, Glusman S, Harris-Warrick RM, Livingstone MS, Schwarz T, Goy MF (1980) Amines and a peptide as neurohormones in lobsters: actions on neuromuscular preparations and preliminary behavioural studies. J Exp Biol 89:159–175
Lafont R (1997) Ecdysteroids and related molecules in animals and plants. Arch Insect Biochem Physiol 35:3–20
Laufer H, Biggers WJ (2001) Unifying concepts learned from methyl farnesoate for invertebrate reproduction and post-embryonic development. Am Zool 41:442–457
Livingstone M, Harris-Warrick R, Kravitz EA (1980) Serotonin and octopamine produce opposite postures in lobsters. Science 208:76–79
Manor R, Weil S, Oren S, Glazer L, Aflalo ED, Ventura T, Chalifa-Caspi V, Lapidot M, Sagi A (2007) Insulin and gender: an insulin-like gene expressed exclusively in the androgenic gland of the male crayfish. Gen Comp Endocrinol 150:326–336
Moore PA, Bergman DA (2005) The smell of success and failure: the role of intrinsic and extrinsic chemical signals on the social behavior of crayfish. Integr Comp Biol 45:650–657
Okazaki RK, Chang ES (1991) Ecdysteroids in the embryos and sera of the crab. Cancer magister and C. anthonyi. Gen Comp Endocrinol 81:174–186
Panksepp JB, Huber R (2002) Chronic alterations in serotonin function: dynamic neurochemical properties in agonistic behavior of the crayfish, Orconectes rusticus. J Neurobiol 50:276–290
Peeke HVS, Blank GS, Figler MH, Chang ES (2000) Effects of exogenous serotonin on a motor behavior and shelter competition in juvenile lobsters (Homarus americanus). J Comp Physiol A 186:575–582
Pondeville I, Maria A, Jacques J-C, Bourgouin C, Dauphin-Villemant C (2008) Anopheles gambiae males produce and transfer the vitellogenic steroid hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone to females during mating. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:19631–19636
Rao KR (2001) Crustacean pigmentary-effector hormones: chemistry and functions of RPCH, PDH, and related peptides. Am Zool 41:364–379
Rao KR, Fingerman M, Hays C (1972) Comparison of the abilities of α-ecdysone and 20-hydroxyecdysone to induce precocious proecdysis and ecdysis in the fiddler crab Uca pugilator. Z Vergl Physiol 76:270–284
Sagi A, Khalaila I (2001) The crustacean androgen: a hormone in an isopod and androgenic activity in decapods. Am Zool 41:477–484
Schwanke ML, Cobb JS, Kass-Simon G (1990) Synaptic plasticity and humoral modulation of neuromuscular transmission in the lobster claw opener during the molt cycle. Comp Biochem Physiol C 97:143–149
Seifert P (1982) Studies on the sex pheromone of the shore crab, Carcinus maenas, with special regard to ecdysone excretion. Ophelia 21:147–158
Smith SG, Chang ES (2007) Molting and growth. In: Kennedy VS, Cronin LE (eds) The blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. Maryland Sea Grant, Baltimore, pp 197–254
Sneddon LU, Taylor AC, Huntingford FA, Watson DG (2000) Agonistic behaviour and biogenic amines in shore crabs Carcinus maenas. J Exp Biol 203:537–545
Snyder MJ, Chang ES (1991a) Ecdysteroids in relation to the molt cycle of the American lobster. Homarus americanus. I. Hemolymph titers and metabolites. Gen Comp Endocrinol 81:133–145
Snyder MJ, Chang ES (1991b) Ecdysteroids in relation to the molt cycle of the American lobster. Homarus americanus. II. Excretion of metabolites. Gen Comp Endocrinol 83:118–131
Snyder MJ, Chang ES (1991c) Metabolism and excretion of injected [3H]-ecdysone by female lobsters, Homarus americanus. Biol Bull 180:475–484
Sorensen PW, Pinillos M, Scott AP (2005) Sexually mature male goldfish release large quantities of androstenedione into the water where it functions as a pheromone. Gen Comp Endocrinol 140:164–175
Stacey N, Chojnacki A, Narayanan A, Cole T, Murphy C (2003) Hormonally derived sex pheromones in fish: exogenous cues and signals from gonad to brain. Can J Physiol Pharmacol 81:329–341
Subramoniam T (2000) Crustacean ecdysteroids in reproduction and embryogenesis. Comp Biochem Physiol C 125:135–156
Tierney AJ, Mangiamele LA (2001) Effects of serotonin and serotonin analogs on posture and agonistic behavior in crayfish. J Comp Physiol A 187:757–767
Tomaschko K-H (1994a) Defensive secretion of ecdysteroids in Pycnogonum litorale (Arthropoda, Pantopoda). Z Naturforsch 49c:367–371
Tomaschko K-H (1994b) Ecdysteroids from Pycnogonum litorale (Arthropoda, Pantopoda) act as chemical defense against Carcinus maenas (Crustacea, Decapoda). J Chem Ecol 20:1445–1455
Tomaschko K-H, Bückmann D (1993) Excessive abundance and dynamics of unusual ecdysteroids in Pycnogonum litorale Strom (Arthropoda, Pantopoda). Gen Comp Endocrinol 90:296–305
Webster SG (1998) Neuropeptides inhibiting growth and reproduction in crustaceans. In: Coast GM, Webster SG (eds) Recent advances in arthropod endocrinology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 33–52
Acknowledgments
I thank Drs. Assaf Barki and Stuart Cromarty for helpful comments and Ms. Sharon Chang for editorial and laboratory assistance. I also thank my various mentors, collaborators, and students for their creative stimulants. This is contribution No. 2411 from the Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California at Davis.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chang, E.S. (2010). The Crustacean Endocrine System and Pleiotropic Chemical Messengers. In: Breithaupt, T., Thiel, M. (eds) Chemical Communication in Crustaceans. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-77101-4_21
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-77101-4_21
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-77100-7
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-77101-4
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)