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Mechanisms of sulphide tolerance in the peanut worm, Sipunculus nudus (Sipunculidae) and in the lugworm, Arenicola marina (Polychaeta)

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Summary

The peanut worm Sipunculus nudus and the lugworm Arenicola marina are inhabitants of intertidal flats. Both species may be exposed to H2S within their habitat. Sulphide concentrations in the vicinity of A. marina burrows are as high as 340 μmol · 1-1, whereas the pore water in sipuncle areas contains much lower sulphide levels of 13 μmol · 1-1 at most. During in vivo sulphide incubations, H2S increases within the coelomic fluid of both species. In S. nudus the concentration of total sulphide after 8 h is about 40% of that of the incubation medium containing 200 and 1000 μmol · 1-1, respectively, which is partly due to the acidification of the coelomic fluid by 0.2 pH units during anaerobiosis. After 8 h, the sulphide concentration in A. marina was only 15% of that in the incubation medium containing 1000 μmol · 1-1. When oxygen is available, both species oxidize sulphide to thiosulphate, but in A. marina this capability is more pronounced than in S. nudus. If sulphide is not completely oxidized internally both intertidal worms switch to an anaerobic metabolism as indicated by the accumulation of opines and succinate.

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Abbreviations

ATP:

adenosine triphosphate

HEPES:

N-2-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N′-2-ethanesulphonic acid

HPLC:

high-performance liquid chromatography

wwt:

wet weight

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  1. Institut für Zoologie, Lehrstuhl für Tierphysiologie, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, W-4000, Düsseldorf 1, FRG

    Susanne Völkel & Manfred K. Grieshaber

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  1. Susanne Völkel
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  2. Manfred K. Grieshaber
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Völkel, S., Grieshaber, M.K. Mechanisms of sulphide tolerance in the peanut worm, Sipunculus nudus (Sipunculidae) and in the lugworm, Arenicola marina (Polychaeta). J Comp Physiol B 162, 469–477 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00258971

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00258971

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