Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T15:06:12.371Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Shell partitioning of two sympatric hermit crabs, Pagurus middendorffii and P. brachiomastus, in north-eastern Hokkaido, Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2008

Takashi Oba ,
Satoshi Wada  and
Seiji Goshima
Takashi Oba*
Affiliation:
Toyama Prefectural Fisheries Research Institute, 364 Takatsuka, Namerikawa, Toyama 936-8536, Japan
Satoshi Wada
Affiliation:
Research Faculty of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, Minato-cho, Hakodate 041-8611, Japan
Seiji Goshima
Affiliation:
Research Faculty of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, Minato-cho, Hakodate 041-8611, Japan
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Takashi Oba, Research Faculty of Fisheries Sciences. Hokkaido University Minato-cho, Hakodate 041-8611, Japan email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The distribution, reproductive biology and shell utilization pattern of two sympatric hermit crab species in Akkeshi, north-eastern Hokkaido, were examined. Although spatial distributions of Pagurus middendorffii and P. brachiomastus highly overlapped and their body sizes were similar, their shell utilization and breeding season markedly differed. Since interspecific differences in the shell utilization pattern agreed with the experimentally determined shell preference difference, we conclude that the interspecific difference in shell preference results in the shell utilization patterns observed in the field. The interspecific difference in the reproductive period, shell utilization pattern and shell preference are concluded to be factors that allow the coexistence of the two Pagurus species in Akkeshi. This study is an example of resource partitioning by coexisting hermit crabs.

Keywords

hermit crabcoexistenceresource utilizationshell preference
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 88 , Issue 1 , February 2008 , pp. 103 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2008

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

Abrams, P.A. (1987) Resource partitioning and competition for shells between intertidal hermit crabs on the outer coast of Washington. Oecologia 72, 248–258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bertness, M.D. (1980) Shell preference and utilization patterns in littoral hermit crabs of the Bay of Panama. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 48, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elwood, R.W. and Neil, S.J. (1992) Assessments and decisions. A study of information gathering by hermit crabs. London: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Floeter, S.R., Nalesso, R.C., Rodrigues, M.M.P. and Turra, A. (2000) Patterns of shell utilization and selection in two sympatric hermit crabs (Anomura: Diogenidae) in south-eastern Brazil. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 80, 1053–1059.Google Scholar
Fotheringham, N. (1976) Population consequences of shell utilization by hermit crabs. Ecology 57, 570–578.Google Scholar
Gherardi, F. (1990) Competition and coexistence in two Mediterranean hermit crabs, Calcinus ornatus (Roux) and Clibanarius erythropus (Latreille) (Decapoda, Anomura). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 143, 221–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gherardi, F. and Nardone, F. (1997) The question of coexistence in hermit crabs: population ecology of a tropical intertidal assemblage. Crustaceana 70, 608–629.Google Scholar
Goshima, S., Wada, S. and Ohmori, H. (1996) Reproductive biology of the hermit crab Pagurus nigrofascia (Anomura: Paguridae). Crustacean Research 25, 86–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hazlett, B.A. (1980) Communication and mutual resource exchange in North Florida hermit crabs. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 6, 177–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hazlett, B.A. (1981) The behavioral ecology of hermit crabs. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 12, 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kellogg, C.W. (1976) Gastropod shells: a potentially limiting resource for hermit crabs. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 22, 101–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kellogg, C.W. (1977) Coexistence in a hermit crab species ensemble. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole 153, 133–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morisita, M. (1959) Measuring of interspecific association and similarity between communities. Memoirs of the Faculty of Science, Kyushu University, Series E (Biology) 3, 65–80.Google Scholar
Oba, T. and Goshima, S. (2004) Temporal and spatial settlement patterns of sympatric hermit crabs and influence of shell resource availability. Marine Biology 144, 871–879.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orians, G.H. and King, C.E. (1964) Shell selection and invasion rates of some Pacific hermit crabs. Pacific Science 18, 297–306.Google Scholar
Reese, E.S. (1968) Annual breeding seasons of three sympatric species of tropical hermit crabs, with a discussion of factors controlling breeding. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 2, 308–318.Google Scholar
Turra, A. and Leite, F.P.P. (2002) Shell utilization patterns of a tropical intertidal hermit crab assemblage. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 82, 97–107.Google Scholar
Vance, R.R. (1972) Competition and mechanism of coexistence in three sympatric species of intertidal hermit crabs. Ecology 53, 1062–1074.Google Scholar
Wada, S. (2001) Reproductive characters and population structure of the subtidal hermit crab Pagurus ochotensis (Anomura: Paguridae). Benthos Research 56, 43–46.Google Scholar
Wada, S., Goshima, S. and Nakao, S. (1995) Reproductive biology of the hermit crab Pagurus middendorffii Brandt (Decapoda: Anomura: Paguridae). Crustacean Research 24, 23–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wada, S., Kitaoka, H. and Goshima, S. (2000) Reproduction of the hermit crab Pagurus lanuginosus and comparison of reproductive traits among sympatric species. Journal of Crustacean Biology 20, 474–478.Google Scholar
Wada, S. and Mima, A. (2003) Reproductive characters of the hermit crab Pagurus proximus Komai 2000 in Hakodate Bay, southern Hokkaido, Japan. Crustacean Research 32, 73–78.Google Scholar
Wada, S., Mima, A. and Ito, A. (2005) Reproductive phenology of sympatric hermit crabs in temperate Japan. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 85, 889–894.CrossRefGoogle Scholar