Effects of salinity and temperature on the bioenergetics of adult stages of the grass shrimp (Palaemonetes pugio Holthuis) from the North Inlet Estuary, South Carolina

The influence of temperature, salinity, body size, and sex on the bioenergetics and life-history parameters of grass shrimp (Palaemonetes pugio Holthuis) was determined under laboratory conditions. Sex and/or size show a highly significant effect only on energy allocation for metabolism. Temperature, salinity and their interaction are the main effects on most energetic parameters, with temperature showing the strongest influence on both life-history parameters and energetics. The adult grass shrimp's energy budget is different from that of larval or juvenile stages, in that most of the energy ingested by adults is allocated to reproduction. Under optimal conditions (25°C and 28‰), allocation of ingested energy in the adult grass shrimp is 51.7% for reproduction, 25.4% for respiration, 14.1% for somatic growth, 4.8% for exoskeletons, and 1.8% for excretion.