Blood glucose in crayfishes in relation to moult and handling

Abstract

DURING a recent investigation of the physiology of excretion in the crayfish1, it was discovered that significant differences in blood glucose-levels existed between intermoult (stage C) and premoult (stage D) specimens of Pacifastacus leniusculus (Dana) (Table 1). The moult stage was determined by a modification of the method of Drach2. The crayfishes were kept in a water-bath at 16° C. in which they had been unsegregated and unfed for periods of one to two weeks. Blood glucose was determined by the glucose oxidase (enzymatic) method of Saifer and Gerstenfeld3 (for details of experimental procedure, see Riegel and Kirschner, ref. 1). © 1960 Nature Publishing Group.