Rhythms of Locomotion and Oxygen Consumption in the Estuarine Amphipod Corophium Volutator (Crustacea: Amphipoda)

The estuarine amphipod Corophium volutator exhibits an endogenous circatidal rhythm of swimming activity, with maxima occurring just after the expected time of high water, under constant laboratory conditions. Oxygen uptake by Corophium is also subject to modulation across the tidal cycle. The period of highest oxygen uptake occurs during the ebb tide, in phase with the period of maximum swimming activity. A second increase in oxygen uptake during the early flood tide is thought to reflect either in-burrow activity or a previously described rhythm of emergence. This being so, this aspect of the animal's respiratory metabolism may be regulated by an autonomous oscillator independent of that governing the animal's swimming behaviour.