Influência das marés artificiais no sistema imune inato de Ucides cordatus

Abstract

Environmental factors affect the physiology of crustaceans living in mangrove areas. Here we described a new husbandry system that allows the occurrence of tides like the ones observed in natural habitats of mangrove crab Ucides cordatus. Comparing this system with Conventional tanks used elsewhere we found differences in hemocyte composition in U. cordatus hemolymph. Animals kept in our system present a higher variation of hemolymph cell types than crabs kept in conventional tanks. Since hemocyte types are relevant for the innate immune responses of crabs, it is possible that U. cordatus would have different susceptibilities to infections during these different periods of tides. Therefore, our results show the relevance to improve husbandry conditions close to the natural environment to better understand U. cordatus physiology.