Duncan McGillivray, Daniel McDougall and Andrew Jeffs (University of Auckland)
The ornate spiny rock lobster is a highly prized and valuable seafood, and it is an attractive candidate for aquaculture. Understanding of how trace metals affect lobster development can identify whether dietary supplementation is required to ensure healthy growth.
Very little is known about the inorganic element composition and mineral requirements of lobster larvae.
X-ray Fluorescence Microscopy (XFM) can rapidly scan trace elemental concentration distributions of large samples at micron scale resolution. Lobster larvae at various stages of development were analysed using the XFM beamline to assess potential changes in elemental distribution and concentration over time.
Elements accumulated in certain locations within the larvae, which provided insight into their likely biological role, about which little was known. The findings may be useful for the application of dietary supplementation to lobster aquaculture operations.
Reference:
McDougall DR, Deas R, Howard DL, Fitzgibbon QP, Smith GG, Jeffs AG and McGillivray DJ. 2023. Examining the inorganic elemental composition of lobster phyllosoma (Panulirus ornatus) with X-ray fluorescence microscopy. Metallomics 15(6):mfad038. https://doi.org/10.1093/mtomcs/mfad038
