Abstract
The sperm of most barnacle species show negligible motility unless exposed to oviducal gland fluid; a secretion associated with oviposition. Artificial activation has previously been induced in Semibalanus balanoides by elevating seawater pH using an ammonia buffer. To date, the information pertaining to barnacle sperm biology is rather limited. This study has investigated the activation of vesicular sperm from three species of acorn barnacles in response to the elevation of seawater pH using alkaline buffers, either sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or ammonium (). Elevation of seawater pH was observed to increase activation success, particularly for Balanus amphitrite and Elminius modestus. In all cases, there was a high degree of variability in the data. A median value of 20% sperm activation (mean ± SE = 20.65 ± 4.86%) was determined for E. modestus at pH 9 (). The lowest activation success was observed in S. balanoides which displayed maximal median activation of 1.79% at pH 8.4 (NaOH) (mean ± SE = 1.93 ± 0.44%). Balanus amphitrite and E. modestus showed greatest activation in seawater buffered with . This is the first study to artificially activate E. modestus and B. amphitrite sperm.
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