Metabolic mechanism of the mud crab (Scylla paramamosain) adapting to salinity sudden drop based on GC-MS technology

Abstract Salinity impacts the respiratory metabolism, growth, and survival of marine crustaceans. Although the S. paramamosain is a euryhaline species, the sudden drop in salinity often causes individual death. The study aimed to reveal the adaptive mechanism of S. paramamosain in response to a sudden drop from 23‰ to 3‰ in salinity based on GC–MS data. We identified 1264 metabolites, and 437 were differentially expressed. Of them, 71 were up-regulated (FC > 1), including taurine, L-homoserine, aspartic acid, fructose 6-phosphate, glucose 6-phosphate, pyruvic acid, and lactic acid, and 74 were down-regulated (FC