Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T05:45:28.023Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Behavioural Responses of Hermit Crabs to Shell Cues, Predator Haemolymph And Body Odour

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Dan Rittschof  and
Brian A. Hazlett
Dan Rittschof
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Marine Laboratory, Duke University, Beaufort, NC 28516–9721, USA.
Brian A. Hazlett
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This study tested the hypothesis that predator odours alter behavioural responses of hermit crabs to other chemical stimuli. Stimuli that cause alarm and shell-related behaviour (hermit crab haemolymph and two gastropod flesh extracts), and stimuli that did not cause shell-related behaviour (sea-water and predator haemolymph) were used. Individual hermit crab responses to stimuli were observed in ambient sea-water and predator odour. In the absence of predator odour, hermit crab haemolymph and gastropod flesh extracts stimulated shell grasping behaviour. Locomotion was the major response to sea-water and stone crab haemolymph. Crabs behaved consistently when repeatedly exposed to a particular stimulus. In general, addition of predator odour to mixtures, resulted in decreased shell grasping and increased locomotion. Shell fit was a poor predictor of behaviour for the size range of crabs tested. Hermit crabs respond to, and discriminate, a variety of complex odour mixtures.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 77 , Issue 3 , August 1997 , pp. 737 - 751
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Atema, J. & Burd, G.D., 1975. A field study of chemotactic responses of the marine mud snail, Nassarius obsoletus. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 1, 243—251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atema, J. & Stenzler, D., 1977. Alarm substances of the marine mud snail Nassarius obsoletus: Biological characterization and possible evolution. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 3, 173–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, W.R., 1991. Chemical recognition by hermit crabs of their symbiotic sea anemones and a predatory octopus. Hydrobiologia, 216/217, 291–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, W.R. & Mariscal, R.N., 1985. Protection of the hermit crab Pagurus pollicaris Say from predators by hydroid-colonized shells. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 87, 111–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caldwell, R.L., 1979. Cavity occupation and defensive behaviour in the stomatopod Gonodactylus festai: Evidence for chemically mediated individual recognition. Animal Behaviour, 27, 194–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carr, W.E.S., 1967. Chemoreception in the mud snail Nassarius obsoletus. I. Properties of stimulatory substances extracted from shrimp. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, 133, 90–105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Diaz, H., Forward, R.B. Jr, Orihuela, B. & Rittschof, D., 1994. Chemically stimulated visual orientation and shape discrimination by the hermit crab Clibanarius vittatus (Bosc). Journal of Crustacean Biology, 14, 20–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duval, M.A., Calzetta, A.M. & Rittschof, D., 1994. Behavioral responses of Littorina irrorata (Say) to water-borne odors, journal of Chemical Ecology, 20, 3321–3334.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elwood, R.W. & Neil, S.J., 1992. Assessments and decisions. A study of information gathering by hermit crabs. New York: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Fine-Levy, J.B., Girardot, M.-N., Derby, C.D. & Daniel, P.C., 1988. Differential associative conditioning and olfactory discrimination in the spiny lobster Panulirus argus. Behavioral and Neural Biology, 49, 315–331.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fine-Levy, J.B., Daniel, P.C., Girardot, M.N. & Derby, C.D., 1989. Behavioral resolution of quality of odorant mixtures by spiny lobsters: differential aversive conditioning of olfactory responses. Chemical Senses, 14, 503–524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forward, R.B. Jr & Lohmann, K.J., 1983. Control of egg hatching in the crab Rhithropanopeus harrisii (Gould). Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, 165, 154–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilchrist, S.L., 1982. A critical review of hermit crab shell use. PhD thesis, Florida State University, USA.Google Scholar
Gilchrist, S. & Abele, L.G., 1984. Effects of sampling method on the estimation of population parameters in hermit crabs. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 4, 645–654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gleeson, R. A., 1980. Pheromone communication in the reproductive behavior of the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. Marine Behaviour and Physiology, 7, 119–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hazlett, B.A., 1982. Chemical induction of visual orientation in the hermit crab Clibanarius vittatus. Animal Behaviour, 30, 1259–1260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hazlett, B.A., 1990. Source and nature of disturbance-chemical system in crayfish Orconectes virilis. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 16, 2263–2276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holm, S., 1979. A simple sequentially rejective multiple test procedure. Scandanavian Journal of Statistics, 6, 65–70.Google Scholar
Katz, J.N. & Rittschof, D., 1993. Alarm/investigation responses of hermit crabs as related to shell fit and crab size. Marine Behaviour and Physiology, 22, 171–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kratt, C.M. & Rittschof, D., 1991. Peptide attraction of hermit crabs Clibanarius vittatus Bosc: roles of enzymes and substrates. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 17, 2347–2366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLean, R.B., 1974. Direct shell acquisition by hermit crabs from gastropods. Experientia, 30, 206–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLean, R.B., 1975. A description of a marine benthic faunal habitat web. PhD thesis, Florida State University, USA.Google Scholar
McLean, R., 1983. Gastropod shells: a dynamic resource that helps shape benthic community structure. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 69, 151–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rittschof, D., 1980a. Chemical attraction of hermit crabs and other attendants to gastropod predation sites. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 6, 103–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rittschof, D., 1980b. Enzymatic production of small molecules attracting hermit crabs to simulated gastropod predation sites. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 6, 665–675.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rittschof, D., 1993. Body odors and neutral-basic peptide mimics: a review of responses by marine organisms. American Zoologist, 33, 487–493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rittschof, D. & Gruber, G., 1988. Response to prey odors by oyster drills Urosalpinx cinerea cinerea, Urosalpinx cincerea follyensis and Eupleura caudata etterae. Marine Behaviour and Physiology, 13, 185–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rittschof, D., Kratt, C.M. & Clare, A.S., 1990. Gastropod predation sites: the role of predator and prey in chemical attraction of the hermit crab Clibanarius vittatus. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 70, 583–596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rittschof, D., Sarrica, J. & Rubenstein, D., 1995. Shell dynamics and microhabitat selection by striped legged hermit crabs Clibanarius vittatus (Bosc). Journal of Experimental Maine Biology and Ecology, 192, 157–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rittschof, D., Tsai, D.W., Massey, P.G., Blanco, L., Kueber, G.L. Jr & Haas, R.J. Jr, 1992. Chemical mediation of behavior in hermit crabs: alarm and aggregation cues. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 18, 959–984.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sih, A., 1992. Prey uncertainity and the balancing of antipredator and feeding needs. American Naturalist, 139, 1052–1069.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sokal, R.R. & Rohlf, F.J. 1981. Biometry. The principles and practices of statistics in biological research. 2nd ed. New York: W.H. Freeman & Company.Google Scholar
Thacker, R.W., 1994. Volatile shell-investigation cues of land hermit crabs: effect of shell fit, detection of cues from other hermit crab species, and cue isolation. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 20, 1457–1482.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walpole, R.E., 1974. Introduction to statistics. New York: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Williams, L.G., Rittschof, D., Brown, B. & Carriker, M.R., 1983. Chemotaxis of oyster drills Urosalpinx cinerea to competing prey odors. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, 164, 536–548.CrossRefGoogle Scholar