Shell-size preference of hermit crabs depends on their growth rate

1997 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
SATOSHI WADA ◽  
HIROFUMI OHMORI ◽  
SEIJI GOSHIMA ◽  
SHIGERU NAKAO
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Hermit Crabs ◽  
Shell Size ◽  
Size Preference

Effects of shell size fit on the efficacy of mate guarding behaviour in male hermit crabs

2004 ◽  
Vol 84 (6) ◽  
pp. 1203-1208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenji Yoshino ◽  
Miho Ozawa ◽  
Seiji Goshima
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Hermit Crab ◽  
Mate Guarding ◽  
The Body ◽  
Hermit Crabs ◽  
Contest Competition ◽  
Shell Size ◽  
Pagurus Filholi ◽  
Size Preference

Males of the hermit crab Pagurus filholi show pre-copulatory mate guarding behaviour to keep a receptive female from other rival males during the breeding season. Guarding males are often replaced by other males via contest competition. Shell size fit and shell species of males effects were investigated to see if their ability to defend females against rivals depends on their shell. Shell size fit and shell species of guarding males were experimentally manipulated and then, the males were allowed to guard a female and interact with rival males of various sizes. Contest outcomes depended on neither the shell size fit nor shell species of the guarding males, and depended on body size ratio between guarding and rival males. When the body size of guarding and rival males was similar, however, guarding males in large fitting shells defended their female mate significantly more often than those in small fitting shells. For Chlorostoma lischkei shells, small males preferred larger shells during the breeding season than after the breeding season. The plasticity in the shell size preference of small males suggests that they compensate for body size disadvantage in mating versus larger rivals and for higher defence ability of female mates versus similar sized rivals.

Ecophenotypic plasticity in shell growth direction of asari clam Ruditapes philippinarum

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Takeshi Tomiyama
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Shell Growth ◽  
Shell Height ◽  
Growth Direction ◽  
Ruditapes Philippinarum ◽  
Shell Morphology ◽  
Individual Growth ◽  
Shell Size ◽  
Internal Factors ◽  
Suitable Habitats

Abstract Asari clam (or Manila clam) Ruditapes philippinarum is an important bivalve for local fisheries. This species exhibits a large variation in shell morphology, and the shell roundness tends to be greater in more unsuitable habitats. To test whether the increments in shell size parameters (length, height and width) were affected solely by environmental conditions or by internal factors such as initial shell shapes or growth rate, a field caging experiment was conducted at two different sites of unsuitable and suitable habitats in Matsukawaura Lagoon, Japan, where shell shapes of wild clams were significantly different between the habitats. In the experiment, clams were released from the two sites to the same site or to the other site and were re-collected after 3, 6 and 12 months of caging. Caged clams originating from unsuitable habitats and released to suitable habitats showed a reduction in shell height relative to shell length, while clams from suitable habitats introduced to unsuitable habitats showed marked increases in both shell height and width. Generalized linear mixed models suggested that the increase in shell height was affected largely by the release habitat (environment) whereas the increase in shell width was affected largely by the individual growth rate. These results suggest that marginal growths in shell height and width respond differently to external and internal factors of clams, resulting in plasticity in their shell shapes according to the environments to which they are translocated.

scholarly journals The energetic costs of living in the surf and impacts on zonation of shells occupied by hermit crabs

2020 ◽  
Vol 223 (16) ◽  
pp. jeb222703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermina Alcaraz ◽  
Brenda Toledo ◽  
Luis M. Burciaga
Keyword(s):  
Water Flow ◽  
Wave Action ◽  
Hermit Crabs ◽  
Energetic Cost ◽  
Shell Shape ◽  
Energetic Costs ◽  
Shell Size ◽  
Conical Shells ◽  
Drag Forces ◽  
Submerged Body

ABSTRACTCrashing waves create a hydrodynamic gradient in which the most challenging effects occur at the wave breaking zone and decrease towards the upper protected tide pools. Hydrodynamic forces depend on the shape of the submerged body; streamlined shapes decrease drag forces compared with bluff or globose bodies. Unlike other animals, hermit crabs can choose their shell shape to cope with the effects of water flow. Hermit crabs occupy larger and heavier shells (conical shape) in wave-exposed sites than those used in protected areas (globose shape). First, we investigated whether a behavioral choice could explain the shells used in sites with different wave action. Then, we experimentally tested whether the shells most frequently used in sites with different wave action reduce the energetic cost of coping with water flow. Metabolic rate was measured using a respirometric system fitted with propellers in opposite walls to generate bidirectional water flow. The choice of shell size when a large array of sizes are available was consistent with the shell size used in different intertidal sites; hermit crabs chose heavier conical shells in water flow conditions than in still water, and the use of heavy conical shells reduced the energetic cost of coping with water motion. In contrast to conical shells, small globose shells imposed lower energy costs of withstanding water flow than large globose shells. The size and type of shells used in different zones of the rocky shore were consistent with an adaptive response to reduce the energetic costs of withstanding wave action.

scholarly journals Intra-Specific Variability in Whorl Growth-Rate among Land Gastropods with Conispirally-Coiled Shells

2021 ◽  
pp. 59-69
Author(s):  
Jean Béguinot
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Repeated Measurements ◽  
Species Level ◽  
Shell Shape ◽  
Snail Species ◽  
Strong Positive Correlation ◽  
Shell Size ◽  
Strong Negative Correlation ◽  
Species Specific

For most conispirally-coiled Gastropods with determinate growth, the geometry of spirally-winding whorls is usually constrained by a strong negative correlation between whorl growth rate and the number of whorls reached at adulthood, as originally reported by the late S.J. Gould. Yet, beyond the tight control of shell-shape at the species level – resulting from this constraint – what about the amplitude of the intra-specific variability of whorl growth-rate, partly contributing to the variability of the overall shell-size at the species level? I address the issue by designing and implementing a new, indirect method for routinely evaluating whorl growth-rate, thereby aiming at considerably saving measurement time, and making it possible to easily achieve repeated measurements across samples large enough to reach statistical significance. This approach was applied to a series of eight common land snail species. The amplitude of intra-specific variability in whorl growth, evaluated this way, proves: (i) being markedly different among the eight investigated species (by a factor that can exceed 2x); (ii) being, yet, high enough, in all cases, to require compensating variations in the adult number of whorls, so as to limit the resulting consequences on the amplitude of the intra-specific variability of adult shell-size. Despite those marked differences in the amplitudes of intra-specific variability of whorl growth-rate among species, no significant relationship was observed between intraspecific variability of whorl growth rate and species-specific shell-shape types (discoidal/globular/elongate) and only weak positive relationship was observed with species-specific typical shell sizes. However, a rather strong positive correlation was found, as expected, between the degree of intra-specific variability of the whorl growth-rate and the degree of intra-specific variability of the number of whorls reached at adulthood (with the yet unexplained exception of one among the eight investigated species).

scholarly journals Shell utilization pattern of the hermit crab Clibanarius vittatus (Crustacea, Anomura) in an estuary at São Vicente, State of São Paulo, Brazil

2006 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno S. Sant'Anna ◽  
Cilene M. Zangrande ◽  
Alvaro L. D. Reigada ◽  
Marcelo A. A. Pinheiro
Keyword(s):  
Hermit Crab ◽  
Sao Paulo ◽  
Hermit Crabs ◽  
Size Difference ◽  
São Paulo ◽  
Utilization Pattern ◽  
Shell Size ◽  
Stramonita Haemastoma ◽  
Clibanarius Vittatus ◽  
Shield Length

We evaluated the gastropod shell utilization pattern of the hermit crab Clibanarius vittatus (Bosc, 1802) at Pescadores Beach in São Vicente, State of São Paulo, Brazil. Specimens were collected monthly from May 2001 through April 2003, in the intertidal zone at low tide. The crabs were weighed and their carapace shield length measured. All gastropod shells were identified and had their shell biometric parameters (total length and aperture length) measured (mm) and weighed (g). A total of 2,344 hermit crabs (644 males, 1,594 females, 45 ovigerous females and 61 individuals in intersex), using 13 species of gastropod shells, were collected. Stramonita haemastoma (Linnaeus, 1767), Cymatium parthenopeum (Von Salis, 1793) and Achatina fulica (Bowdich, 1822) comprised over 98% of all the shells. Male and intersex crabs were significantly larger than the females. This size difference strongly influenced the shell utilization pattern, principally in A. fulica, which has the largest shell size, that was only used by males and intersexual individuals of C. vittatus. Cymatium parthenopeum was the only shell species that showed a high determinant coefficient in all the biometric correlations evaluated. The high abundance of S. haemastoma shells and a strong correlation between crab size and shell aperture length established by a significant determination coefficient, indicated that C. vittatus uses this species as the principal resource for shell occupation at Pescadores Beach.

scholarly journals Some parameters of growth in the common intertidal barnacle, Balanus balanoides (L.)

1959 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 581-587 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Barnes ◽  
Margaret Barnes
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Nitrogen Content ◽  
Repeated Measurements ◽  
Shell Size ◽  
Sedentary Animal ◽  
The Common ◽  
Living Material ◽  
Living Tissues ◽  
Balanus Balanoides

It is difficult to determine the weight or nitrogen content of the living tissues of an operculate barnacle without destroying it. It has been customary, there-fore, in ecological work to express growth in terms of various parameters determined from repeated measurements of the shell. Moore (1934) employed shell volume calculated from the height and basal diameters; others (Costlow & Bookhout, 1953, 1956; Mawatari, Hirosaki & Kobayashi, 1954a, b) have used the area of the basis. Most commonly, however, in growth-rate studies the length of the basis measured through the rostro-carinal axis has been used (Hatton, 1938; Barnes & Powell, 1953). Recently, working with animals cultured in the laboratory when the cast of an individual could be obtained subsequent to ecdysis, Costlow & Bookhout (1957) have used the size of the mouthparts as a measure of growth after first establishing their relation to body size. The space, both areal and volumetric, occupied by a sedentary animal is of primary importance in studies of its ecology and measurements of shell-size are, therefore, adequate for many purposes. For some aspects of growth and ecology it is, nevertheless, very desirable that the relation between such parameters and others, more directly connected with the living material, should be established.

Plasticity in shell selection behaviour by the endemic hermit crab Diogenes alias (Anomura, Diogenidae) from the northeastern Arabian Sea, India

Crustaceana ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 93 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 1135-1152
Author(s):  
T. Nirmal ◽  
P. M. Nuzaiba ◽  
Alexandre R. Da Silva ◽  
A. Pavan Kumar ◽  
A. Biju Kumar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hermit Crab ◽  
Arabian Sea ◽  
Hermit Crabs ◽  
Shell Size ◽  
Demographic Groups ◽  
Volume Weight ◽  
Aperture Width ◽  
Internal Volume ◽  
Species Preferences ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Selection of gastropod shells as shelter by hermit crabs in controlled experiments would provide useful information on the utility of these shells in nature. In this study, shell size and species preferences of Diogenes alias from the northeastern Arabian Sea were quantified by free choice experiments. Males of D. alias, prefer Indothais lacera and Tibia curta, when choice was given; no differences were found for other demographic groups. All hermit crabs occupied larger shells than the shells they occupied in nature. The best correlation was observed between internal volume, weight, and aperture width of the shell with the size of the hermit crab. This pattern has also been reported for other species (i.e., Clibanarius albidigitus, Calcinus tibicen, and C. obscurus). Furthermore, the present study highlights the importance of optimal resources in a scarce environment.

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