Biomarker studies on Sea urchin (Salmacis virgulata) with respect to Ocean acidification

Muthusamy Maruthupandy, Muthusamy Anand*, Govindarajalu Jayanthi, Akbar Sait Hameedha

Beevi and Radhakrishnan Jeeva Priya
Department of Marine and Coastal Studies, School of Energy, Environment and Natural
Resources, Madurai Kamaraj University, Pudhumadam 623 524, Tamil Nadu, India.
*Corresponding author: anandm21@yahoo.com
Abstract:
Sea urchins are ecologically and economically important calcifying organisms threatened
by acidification of the global ocean caused by anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Increasing CO2
atmospheric levels lead to increasing ocean acidification, thereby enhancing calcium carbonate
dissolution of calcifying species. This study investigates the effects of acute (8 days) exposure to
acidified seawater on sea urchin (Salmacis vergulata), during the temperature 28 C and different
pH like 7, 7.5, 8.0 and 8.2. The pH 8.2 is considered as a control. In this experiment, we
estimated the biomarker enzymes like Lipid peroxides, Reduced glutathayamnine, Glutathione stransferase, catalase and Acetylcholine esterase from CO2 exposed and control samples. The
enzymatic estimations, Lipid peroxides, Reduced glutathayamnine and Glutathione s-transferase
were increased among the reduced pH condition. While, Catalase and Acetylcholine esterase
were decreased among reduced pH condition.
Key words: Salmacis vergulata, Biomarker, Marine organism, Ocean acidification, Sea pH