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Damage Due to Solar Ultraviolet Radiation in the Brittlestar Ophioderma Brevispinum (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Sönke Johnsen  and
William M. Kier
Sönke Johnsen
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
William M. Kier
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
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Extract

Many morphological, chemical, and behavioural characteristics of echinoderms have been implicated as defences against ultraviolet light, though no studies have investigated whether adult echinoderms are damaged by this form of radiation. This study tests whether the brittlestar Ophioderma brevispinum (Ophiuroidea: Echinodermata) is damaged by solar ultraviolet radiation. Specimens of O. brevispinum were exposed to sunlight at a field station on the North Carolina coast. After 4 d of exposure, 12 out of 13 animals were dead and the remaining animal was moderately damaged. The animals in the control treatment, protected by a UV-opaque filter, suffered almost no damage.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 78 , Issue 2 , May 1998 , pp. 681 - 684
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1998

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