The time-course change of nitrogenous excretion in the Kuruma shrimp Penaeus japonicus following nitrite exposure

Penaeus japonicus (12.83 +/- 1.24 g) which were exposed individually to 0.002 (control), 0.076, 0.362, 0.719 and 1.433 mM nitrite at 30 ppt of salinity were examined for hemolymph ammonia, urea and nitrite, and nitrogenous excretion after 3, 6, 12, 24 and 48 h, respectively. Hemolymph nitrite and hemolymph urea increased directly with ambient nitrite and exposure time, whereas hemolymph ammonia was inversely related to ambient nitrite and exposure time. Specific excretions of total-N (total nitrogen), ammonia-N, urea-pi and organic-N (organic nitrogen) increased directly with ambient nitrite and exposure time. The contribution of ammonia-N excretion and urea-N excretion in the total-N excreted by the control shrimp was 41.7-90.8 and 2.8-10.5%, respectively. The contribution of ammonia-N in the total-N excreted by P. japonicus decreased to 10.0 and 3.8%, when they were exposed for 24 h to 0.076 and 1.433 mM nitrite, respectively. The contribution of urea-N excretion increased to 58.7 and 21.4%, and the organic-N excretion increased to 31.3 and 74.8% in the total-N excreted by the shrimp following 24 h exposure to 0.076 and 1.433 mM nitrite, respectively. It was concluded that P. japonicus following 24 h exposure to nitrite as low as 0.076 mM increased its ammonia-N excretion by a factor of 1.9, its urea-N excretion by 200, and its organic-N excretion by 37, as compared to those in the control solution. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.