Jason Ridlon

Document Type

Honors Project

First Advisor

Dr. Stephen Baron

Degree Award Date

Spring 2002

Keywords

Carotenoprotein, Isolation, Comparison, Two Color Morphologies, Cambarus Bartonii, Hone Quarry

Disciplines

Biology | Laboratory and Basic Science Research | Marine Biology

Abstract

Two color morphologies (brown, blue) of the crayfish Cambams bartonii were examined on a blue substrate, which is unique to an isolated stretch of a shallow stream at Hone Quarry. The brown phenotype greatly predominates, and does so in all other rivers observed in the Rockingham county area. The brown and blue phenotypes were experimentally determined to be incapable of morphological color change. Chromatophoral examination led to the conclusion that the basis of color change was of an extrachromalophoral pigment that was different in the two phenotypes. Extraction of this pigment, believed to be crustacyanin, led to the conclusion that both the blue and the brown crayfish contain the same blue carotenoprotein in equal amounts. This conclusion was based on densitometric data from native polyacrylamide gel (PAGE) electrophoresis and spectropholometry of the isolated blue protein.

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