Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T04:49:08.605Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Circatidal Moulting Rhythm in The Shore Crab Carcinus Maenas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

P. Abello ,
C.G. Warman  and
E. Naylor
P. Abello
Affiliation:
School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL59 5EY.
C.G. Warman
Affiliation:
School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL59 5EY.
E. Naylor
Affiliation:
School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL59 5EY.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Late premoult females from precopula pairs of male and female Carcimts maenas (Crustacea: Brachyura) moulted at times of expected high tide in constant conditions in the laboratory. The data presents for the first time evidence of endogenous, circatidal (−12·4 h) moulting rhythms in a crustacean.

Studies on the temporal patterns of moulting in crustaceans have elucidated rhythms of seasonal (annual or biannual), lunar (29·4 d), semilunar (14·7 d) and diel (24 h) periodicities (see Conan, 1985; Fernandez et al., 1994). Examples in the literature of so-called ‘tidal’ rhythmicity of moulting given by Conan (1985) are more correctly referred to as semilunar or neap/spring patterns. There appear to be no reported examples of true tidal (12·4 h) moulting rhythms. Also there is very little evidence in the literature that moulting rhythms phased to geophysical cycles are controlled endogenously. Most studies have been carried out in the field or under L:D cycles in the laboratory and only a few have been undertaken with animals in constant conditions (see Fowler et al., 1971; Bishop & Herrnkind, 1976; Nicol, 1989; Fernandez et al., 1994). Conan (1985) has reported moulting rhythms of circamonthly, circatidal (=circasemilunar) and circadian periodicities but his use of the prefix ‘circa’ is unusual since it more correctly describes free-running rhythms in constant conditions, not environmentally driven rhythms as in the examples quoted. In the present study we sought to determine whether moulting in the shore crab Carcimts maenas (L.) was tidally patterned and endogenous.

Over a period of several days in the summer of 1991 large numbers of premoult female Carcinus maenas were obtained by searching for specimens associated with males in precopular pairs.

Type
Short Communications
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 77 , Issue 1 , February 1997 , pp. 277 - 279
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

Aagaard, A., Warman, D.G., Depledge, M.H. & Naylor, E., 1995. Dissociation of heart rate and locomotor activity during the expression of rhythmic behaviour in the shore crab Carcinus maenas. Marine and Freshwater Behaviour and Physiology, 26, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bishop, J.M. & Herrnkind, W.F., 1976. Burying and molting of pink shrimp, Penaens duorarum (Crustacea: Penaeidae), under selected photoperiods of white and uv-light. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, 150, 163–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conan, G.Y., 1985. Periodicity and phasing of molting. In Crustacean issues. Vol. 3. Factors in adult growth (ed. A.M., Wenner), pp. 73–99. Rotterdam: A.A. Balkema.Google Scholar
Fernandez, M., Iribarne, O. & Armstrong, D., 1994. Ecdysial rhythms in megalopae and first instars of the Dungeness crab Cancer magister. Marine Biology, 118, 611–615.Google Scholar
Fowler, S.W., Small, L.F. & Keckes, S., 1971. Effects of temperature and size on molting of euphausiid crustaceans. Marine Biology, 11, 45–51.Google Scholar
Lipcius, R.N. & Herrnkind, W.F., 1982. Molt cycle alterations in behaviour, feeding and diel rhythms of a decapod crustacean, the spiny lobster Panulirus argus. Marine Biology, 68, 241–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naylor, E., 1988. Rhythmic behaviour of decapod crustaceans. Symposia of the Zoological Society of London, 59, 177–199.Google Scholar
Nicol, S., 1989. Apparent independence of the spawning and moulting cycles in female Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba Dana). Polar Biology, 9, 371–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tamm, G.R. & Cobb, J.S., 1976. Diel ecdysis rhythms in juvenile lobsters Homarus americanus. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 33, 819–821.Google Scholar
Volpato, G.L. & Hoshino, K., 1987. Diurnal or nocturnal ecdysis determined by populational factors in the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium iheringi (Ortmann, 1897). Biologica Fisiologia Animales, Sao Paulo, 11, 113–121.Google Scholar
Warman, C.G., Reid, D.G. & Naylor, E., 1993. Variation in the tidal migratory behaviour and rhythmic light-responsiveness in the shorecrab, Carcinus maenas. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 73, 355–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warner, G.F., 1977. The biology of crabs. London: Elek Science.Google Scholar
Zeng, C., Naylor, E. & Abello, P., in press. Endogenous control of timing of metamorphosis in megalopae of the shore crab Carcinus maenas. Marine Biology.Google Scholar