• Arginine is essential amino acid for crustaceans, it cannot be synthesized by themselves (Cowey and Forster 1971).
• Arginine causes feeding response (including digestion) in stony coral but has a significantly delayed response (1-2 minutes). Activity is confined to the mouth region (Lehman and Porter 1973)
• Arginine is a major contributor to copepod and mysid free amino acid pools (Lehman and Porter 1973)
• Arginine is recycled mainly through heterotrophic organisms and not directly used by phytoplankton in pelagic environment (Hollibaugh 1976)
• Arginine uptake and marine by heterotrophic bacteria is fast and efficient (Iturriaga and Zsolnay 1981)
• Arginine uptake system is shared with Lysine in marine diatom (Flynn and Syrett 1986)
• Optimum growth rate in a shrimp was obtained with Arginine concentration of 25 g/kg. Arginine was supplied in a microencapsulated form. Arginine in crystalline form is not usable to shrimp. (Chen et al. 1992)
• Arginine can not be synthesized by fish, molluscs or nematodes and has weak signal in corals (Fitzgerald and Szmant 1997)
• In Pocillopora damicornis Arginine uptake is very high (Hoeegh-Guldberg and Williamson 1999)
• Arginine is translocated from zooxanthellae to host in Tridacna gigas (Shepherd et al. 1999)
• Arginine can make up to 9% of the total DFAA in seawater (Pan and Wang 2004)
• Mussels have high affinity for dissolved Arginine but it’s uptake is slow (Pan and Wang 2004)
• Arginine is an important part of sponge silica uptake and thus spicule formation (Perovic-Ottstadt et al. 2005)

Chen et al. Quantification of arginine requirements of juvenile marine shrimp, Penaeus monodon, using microencapsulated arginine. Marine Biology (1992)

Fitzgerald and Szmant. Biosynthesis of ‘essential’ amino acids by scleractinian corals. The Biochemical journal (1997) vol. 322 ( Pt 1) pp. 213-21

Flynn and Syrett. Characteristics of the uptake system for L-lysine and L-arginine in Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Marine Biology (1986)

Hoeegh-Guldberg and Williamson. Availability of two forms of dissolved nitrogen to the coral Pocillopora damicornis and its symbiotic zooxanthellae. Marine Biology (1999)

Hollibaugh. The Biological Degradation of Arginine and Glutamic Acid in Seawater in Relation to the Growth of Phytoplankton. Marine Biology (1976)

Iturriaga and Zsolnay. Transformation of some dissolved organic compounds by a natural heterotrophic population. Marine Biology (1981)

Lehman and Porter. Chemical Activation Of Feeding In The Caribbean Reef-Building Coral Montastrea Cavernosa. The Biological Bulletin (1973)

Pan and Wang. Differential uptake of dissolved and particulate organic carbon by the marine mussel Perna viridis. Limnology and oceanography (2004)

Perovic-Ottstadt et al. Arginine kinase in the demosponge Suberites domuncula: regulation of its expression and catalytic activity by silicic acid. Journal of Experimental Biology (2005)

Shepherd et al. Ammonium, but not nitrate, stimulates an increase in glutamine concentration in the haemolymph of Tridacna gigas. Marine Biology (1999)

Related posts:

1. Amino acids and reef aquarium: Aspartic acid
2. Amino acids and reef aquarium: Alanine
3. Amino acids and reef aquarium: Glutamic acid

• Alanine is not essential amino acid for crustaceans (Cowey and Forster 1971).
• Alanine can elicit synthetic food retention in sea anemone tentacles but not mouth opening or digestion (Nagai and Nagai 1973)
• Present in natural seawater and is readily utilized by pelagic heterotrophic organisms (Williams et al. 1976)
• Common marine diatom Nitzschia laevis can utilize Alanine, uptake doubling in dark unless glucose is present (Lewin and Hellebust 1978)
• Used by bacteria in marine sediments (Christensen and Blackburn 1980)
• Not significant in bivalve shell organic matrix (Wheeler et al. 1988)
• Dissolved free Alanine is used in both anabolic and catabolic pathways in “nonfeeding” gastropod larvae (trochophore and veliger) and represent a net energy gain to the larvae (Jaeckle and Manahan 1989)
• Anemone and a stony coral absorb Alanine through ectoderm but not through oral epithelial layers (Bénazet-Tambutté et al. 1996)
• Alanine is synthesized in stony corals (have been shown to be excreted from zooxanthellae) and is considered to be non-essential (Fitzgerald and Szmant 1997)
• Alanine is part of larval attachment inductor for sedentary polychaetes (Harder and Qian 1999, Jin and Qian 2005)
• In Pocillopora damicornis Alanine uptake rate is among the highest of amino acids (Hoeegh-Guldberg and Williamson 1999)
• Alanine is metabolized quickly by zooxanthellae and also translocated to the host tissue (Roberts et al. 1999)
• Alanine has been identified as the principle amino acid translocated from zooxanthellae to host in a variety of marine algae invertebrate symbioses (Roberts et al. 1999)
• Alanine is one of most abundant amino acid in juvenile shrimp and is important part of diet (Mente et al. 2002)
• Alanine increases the bioactivities of the biofilms by changing the bacterial species composition (not the bacterial abundance) (Jin and Qian 2005)
• Uptake of Alanine is high in macroalgae (Tyler et al. 2005)
• Alanine inhibits feeding rates of the marine planktonic protist (ciliate) Favella sp. (Strom et al. 2007)
• Alanine, as a part of DOM, had a significant effect on completion of metamorphosis and lophophore size of Bryozoan larvae (Johnson and Wendt. 2007)

References:

Bénazet-Tambutté et al. Permeability of the oral epithelial layers in cnidarians. Marine Biology (1996)

Christensen and Blackburn. Turnover of tracer (14C, 3H labelled) alanine in inshore marine sediments. Marine Biology (1980)

Cowey and Forster. The essential amino-acid requirements of the prawn Palaemon serratus. The growth of prawns on diets containing proteins of different amino-acid compositions. Marine Biology (1971)

Fitzgerald and Szmant. Biosynthesis of ‘essential’ amino acids by scleractinian corals. The Biochemical journal (1997) vol. 322 ( Pt 1) pp. 213-21

Harder and Qian. Induction of larval attachment and metamorphosis in the serpulid polychaete Hydroides elegans by dissolved free amino acids: isolation and identification. Marine ecology progress series (1999)

Hoeegh-Guldberg and Williamson. Availability of two forms of dissolved nitrogen to the coral Pocillopora damicornis and its symbiotic zooxanthellae. Marine Biology (1999)

“Jaeckle and Manahan. Feeding by a “”nonfeeding”" larva: uptake of dissolved amino acids from seawater by lecithotrophic larvae of the gastropod Haliotis rufescens. Marine Biology (1989)”

Jin and Qian. Amino acid exposure modulates the bioactivity of biofilms for larval settlement of Hydroides elegans by altering bacterial community components. Marine ecology progress series (2005)

Johnson and Wendt. Availability of dissolved organic matter offsets metabolic costs of a protracted larval period for Bugula neritina (Bryozoa). Marine Biology (2007) vol. 151 (1) pp. 301-311

Lewin and Hellebust. Utilization of Glutamate and Glucose for Heterotrophic Growth by the Marine Pennate Diatom Nitzschia laevis. Marine Biology (1978)

Mente et al. Protein turnover, amino acid profile and amino acid flux in juvenile shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei: effects of dietary protein source. Journal of Experimental Biology (2002)

Nagai and Nagai. Feeding factors for the sea anemone Anthopleura midorii. Marine Biology (1973)

Roberts et al. Primary site and initial products of ammonium assimilation in the symbiotic sea anemone Anemonia viridis. Marine Biology (1999)

Strom et al. Responses of marine planktonic protists to amino acids: feeding inhibition and swimming behavior in the ciliate Favellasp. Aquatic Microbial Ecology (2007)

Tyler et al. Uptake of urea and amino acids by the macroalgae Ulva lactuca (Chlorophyta) and Gracilaria vermiculophylla (Rhodophyta). Marine ecology progress series (2005)

Wheeler et al. Regulation of in vitro and in vivo CaCO3 crystallization by fractions of oyster shell organic matrix. Marine Biology (1988)

Williams et al. Amino acid uptake and respiration by marine heterotrophs. Marine Biology (1976)

Related posts:

1. Amino acids and reef aquarium: Aspartic acid
2. Amino acids and reef aquarium: Arginine
3. Amino acids and reef aquarium: Glutamic acid

I have never seen anything like this. I bought the shrimp pictured as a common Lysmata sp. with a dull red stripes. Two shrimp were purchased to take care of the growing Aiptasia population.

As it so often happens with these type of Lysmata shrimp, I never saw the shrimps after introducing them into the aquarium.

However, I had to transfer my reef to a new tank and in process of doing that I managed to catch one of the shrimps. I was very surprised to find out that the shrimp had changed it’s base color from red to green and it’s tail was bright blue.

This is most likely a completely normal and natural transformation, I just had never witnessed it myself.

No related posts.