Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T17:21:35.048Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Disappearance of the warm-water hermit crab Clibanarius erythropus from south-west Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

A. J. Southward  and
Eve C. Southward
A. J. Southward
Affiliation:
The Laboratory, Marine Biological Association, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB
Eve C. Southward
Affiliation:
The Laboratory, Marine Biological Association, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The hermit crab Clibanarius erythropus first reported from Britain in 1961 is no longer present. There appears to have been no further recruitment since the late 1950s when there was a favourable combination of climate and hydrographical factors that led to successful invasion of Devon and Cornwall.

The population appears to have succumbed to the combined effect of age and declining temperatures. Additional contributory factors in the decline could be the mortalities resulting from the ‘Torrey Canyon’ disaster; the reduction in numbers of the dog-whelk (whose empty shells are the favoured home of the crab in Britain) as a result of organotin antifouling paints; and increased public pressure on the habitat.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 68 , Issue 3 , August 1988 , pp. 409 - 412
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1988

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

REFERENCES

Boalch, G. T., Holme, N. A., Jephson, N. A. & Sidwell, J. M. C., 1974. A resurvey of Colman's intertidal traverses at Wembury, South Devon. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 54, 551–553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryan, G. W., Gibbs, P. E., Hummerstone, L. G. & Burt, G. R., 1986. The decline of the gastropod Nucella lapillus around south-west England: evidence for the effect of tributyltin from antifouling paints. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 66, 611–640.Google Scholar
Carlisle, D. B. & Tregenza, N., 1961. A hermit crab new to Britain. Nature, London, 190, 931.Google Scholar
Fischer-Piette, E., 1941. Croissance, taille maxima, et longévité possible de quelqes animaux intercotideaux en fonction du milieu. Annales de l'Institut océanographique 21, 1–28.Google Scholar
Gibbs, P. E. & Bryan, G. W., 1986. Reproductive failure in populations of the dog-whelk, Nucella lapillus, caused by imposex induced by tributyltin from antifouling paints. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 66, 767–777.Google Scholar
Southward, A. J., 1980. The western English Channel-an inconstant ecosystem? Nature, London, 185, 361–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Southward, A. J., 1984. Fluctuations in the ‘indicator’ chaetognaths Sagitta elegans and Sagitta setosa in the Western Channel. Oceanologica acta, 7, 229–239.Google Scholar
Southward, A. J. & Southward, E. C., 1977. Distribution and ecology of the hermit crab Clibanarius erythropus in the western Channel. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 57, 441–52.Google Scholar