Pheromones waterborne

The evolution of chemical communication was probably influenced by such additional factors as adsorption of aerial pheromones to vegetation, or waterborne pheromones to suspended clay. The influence of these environmental features has very likely selected for both the choice of chemical constituents of the signals and the appropriate signal-emission behaviors (Gleeson, 1978). 

Chemical lures, based on feeding stimuli, are now on the market as odor-impregnated artificial bait. They are specific for certain predatoiy fish and are extremely effective (Schisler and Bergesen, 1996). Efforts to imderstand improving of feeding attractants and stimulants for economically soimd mariculture started early (Bardach and Villars, 1974). Another obvious application of fish odors is the use of waterborne male and female pheromones to improve spawning in fish in aquaculture. 

Borowsky, B., Augelli, C.E., and Wilson, S.R., Towards chemical characterization of waterborne pheromone of amphipod crustacean Microdeutopus gryllotalpa, J. Chem. Ecol., 13, 1673, 1987. 

Chemically mediated interactions have important direct and indirect effects on communities from both ecological and evolutionary standpoints.22 341 Chemical defense or communication cannot be properly understood unless it is viewed through the lenses of population, community, and ecosystem processes, and this requires consideration of both the biotic and abiotic components of the natural environment.342 For example, chemically mediated foraging is affected by water flow because it relies on water-soluble cues that are carried away from prey.343 345 Similar constraints likewise modify the effectiveness of other waterborne cues, such as alarm signals, sexual pheromones, and settlement cues, in both mobile and sessile organisms.244 345 350... 

While almost all insect pheromones are fatty-acid-derived hydrocarbons (Baker, Chap. 27), crustacean pheromones are more diverse. They belong to various substance classes such as peptides (Rittschof and Cohen 2004), nucleotides (Hardege and Terschak, Chap. 19) or other small polar molecules (Kamio and Derby, Chap. 20), small nonpolar molecules (Ingvarsdottir et al. 2002), and possibly to ceramids (Asai et al. 2000). The higher diversity of waterborne pheromones again reflects the physical differences between the two media, with solubility in water being much less restrictive for the evolution of signal molecules than volatility in air. 

Clare AS, Yamazaki M (2000) Inactivity of glycyl-glycyl-arginine and two putative (QSAR) peptide analogues of barnacle waterborne settlement pheromone. J Mar Biol Ass UK 80 945-946... 

---