Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T08:39:04.282Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The shadow of the shell: a cue for a new home

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2019

Monserrat Suárez-Rodríguez ,
Karla Kruesi  and
Guillermina Alcaraz Open the ORCID record for Guillermina Alcaraz [Opens in a new window]
Monserrat Suárez-Rodríguez
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Ecofisiología, Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México City 04510, México
Karla Kruesi
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Ecofisiología, Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México City 04510, México
Guillermina Alcaraz*
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Ecofisiología, Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México City 04510, México
*
Author for correspondence: Guillermina Alcaraz, E-mail: alcaraz@ciencias.unam.mx
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Hermit crabs use different senses to search for and find shells. In most cases, chemical cues have been proven to act as a very efficient way of finding new shells. However, in intertidal environments, the water transports chemical signals in different directions and velocities may make it harder to track the source of the cue, so visual stimuli may be a more precise source of information. The hermit crab Calcinus californiensis shows a preference for the biconical shells of Stramonita biserialis, although the crabs may also use the less preferred shell of Nerita scabricosta. We were interested in exploring if C. californiensis identify the preferred shell species through vision in the absence of chemical stimuli. We presented both shell species to hermit crabs in two different sets of experiments. In one experiment, we presented to the hermit crabs real shells of N. scabricosta and S. biserialis, and in another, we presented only the silhouettes of the same shells. The hermit crabs discriminated between the real shells and the silhouettes of N. scabricosta and S. biserialis. Females attended with higher frequency to real shells and silhouettes of S. biserialis; while males attended more to shells and silhouettes of N. scabricosta. Although, larger males biased their attendance toward shells of S. biserialis. Our results show that visual perception may be more important than we have thought in intertidal animals.

Keywords

Calcinus californiensisgastropod shellhermit crabintertidal environmentsvisual perception
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 99 , Issue 5 , August 2019 , pp. 1165 - 1169
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2019 

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

Alcaraz, G and Arce, E (2017) Predator discrimination in the hermit crab Calcinus californiensis: tight for shell breakers, loose for shell peelers. Oikos 126, 1299–1307.Google Scholar
Alcaraz, G and García-Cabello, KN (2017) Feeding and metabolic compensations in response to different foraging costs. Hydrobiologia 787, 217–227.Google Scholar
Alcaraz, G and Kruesi, K (2009) The role of previous shell occupancy in the wild on laboratory shell choice by the hermit crab Calcinus californiensis. Marine and Freshwater Behaviour and Physiology 42, 55–62.Google Scholar
Alcaraz, G and Kruesi, K (2012) Exploring the phenotypic plasticity of standard metabolic rate and its inter-individual consistency in the hermit crab Calcinus californiensis. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 412, 20–26.Google Scholar
Alcaraz, G, Chávez-Solís, CE and Kruesi, K (2015) Mismatch between body growth and shell preference in hermit crabs is explained by protection from predators. Hydrobiologia 743, 151–156.Google Scholar
Arce, E and Alcaraz, G (2011) Shell use by the hermit crab Calcinus californiensis at different levels of the intertidal zone. Scientia Marina 75, 121–128.Google Scholar
Arce, E and Alcaraz, G (2012) Shell preference in a hermit crab: comparison between a matrix of paired comparisons and a multiple-alternative experiment. Marine Biology 159, 853–862.Google Scholar
Burnham, KP and Anderson, DR (2002) Model Selection and Multimodel Inference: A Practical Information-Theoretic Approach. New York, NY: Springer Science & Business Media.Google Scholar
Chiandetti, C and Caputi, A (2017) Visual shape recognition in crayfish as revealed by habituation. Animal Behavior and Cognition 4, 242–251.Google Scholar
Chiussi, R, Díaz, H, Rittschof, D and Forward, RB (2001) Orientation of the hermit crab Clibanarius antillensis: effects of visual and chemical cues. Journal of Crustacean Biology 21, 593–605.Google Scholar
Dalesman, S and Inchley, CJ (2008) Interaction between olfactory and visual cues affects flight initiation and distance by the hermit crab, Pagurus bernhardus. Behaviour 145, 1479–1492.Google Scholar
Diaz, H, Forward, RB, Orihuela, B and Rittschof, D (1994) Chemically stimulated visual orientation and shape discrimination by the hermit crab Clibanarius vittatus. Journal of Crustacean Biology 14, 20–26.Google Scholar
Diaz, H, Orihuela, B, Rittschof, D and Forward, RB (1995) Visual orientation to gastropod shells by chemically stimulated hermit crabs, Clibanarius vittatus (Bosc). Journal of Crustacean Biology 15, 70–78.Google Scholar
Franco, J-S, Lapierre, M and Boyer, E (2006) Visual shapes of silhouette sets. In Third International Symposium on 3D Data Processing, Visualization, and Transmission. IEEE, pp. 397–404.Google Scholar
Gherardi, F and Tiedemann, J (2004) Binary individual recognition in hermit crabs. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 55, 524–530.Google Scholar
Gherardi, F, Cenni, F, Parisi, G and Aquiloni, L (2010) Visual recognition of conspecifics in the American lobster, Homarus americanus. Animal Behaviour 80, 713–719.Google Scholar
Hahn, DR (1998) Hermit crab shell use patterns: response to previous shell experience and to water flow. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 228, 35–51.Google Scholar
Hebets, EA and Rundus, A (2010) Chemical communication in a multimodal context. In Breithaupt, T and Thiel, M (eds), Chemical Communication in Crustaceans. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 335–354.Google Scholar
Johnson, JB and Omland, KS (2004) Model selection in ecology and evolution. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 19, 101–108.Google Scholar
Jutfelt, F, Sundin, J, Raby, GD, Krång, AS and Clark, TD (2017) Two-current choice flumes for testing avoidance and preference in aquatic animals. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 8, 379–390.Google Scholar
Kellogg, CW (1977) Coexistence in a hermit crab species ensemble. Biological Bulletin 153, 133–144.Google Scholar
Koehl, MAR (2006) The fluid mechanics of arthropod sniffing in turbulent odor plumes. Chemical Senses 31, 93–105.Google Scholar
Layne, JE (1998) Retinal location is the key to identifying predators in fiddler crabs (Uca pugilator). Journal of Experimental Biology 201, 2253–2261.Google Scholar
Lightbody, AF and Nepf, HM (2006) Prediction of near-field shear dispersion in an emergent canopy with heterogeneous morphology. Environmental Fluid Mechanics 6, 477–488.Google Scholar
Mead, KS, Wiley, MB and Koehl, MAR (2003) Fine-scale patterns of odor encounter by the antennules of mantis shrimp tracking turbulent plumes in wave-affected and unidirectional flow. Journal of Experimental Biology 206, 181–193.Google Scholar
Mesce, KA (1982) Calcium-bearing objects elicit shell selection behavior in a hermit crab. Science 215, 993–995.Google Scholar
R Core Team (2016) R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing.Google Scholar
Rittschof, D and Hazlett, BA (1997) Behavioural responses of hermit crabs to shell cues, predator haemolymph and body odour. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 77, 737–751.Google Scholar
Scully, EP (1979) The effects of gastropod shell availability and habitat characteristics on shell utilization by the intertidal hermit crab Pagurus longicarpus Say. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 37, 139–152.Google Scholar
Small, MP and Thacker, RW (1994) Land hermit crabs use odors of dead conspecifics to locate shells. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 182, 169–182.Google Scholar
Toledo, RMB (2016) Consecuencias del oleaje sobre la preferencia de conchas de gasterópodos y sus costos energéticos en el cangrejo ermitaño Calcinus californiensis. MSc thesis. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México. Available at http://132.248.9.195/ptd2016/octubre/0751546/Index.html.Google Scholar
Tricarico, E and Gherardi, F (2006) Shell acquisition by hermit crabs: which tactic is more efficient? Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 60, 492–500.Google Scholar
Tran, MV (2013) The use of olfactory foraging cues by intertidal hermit crabs. PhD thesis. Michigan State University, Michigan, USA. Available at https://d.lib.msu.edu/etd/2234/datastream/OBJ/View/.Google Scholar
Turra, A (2005) Reproductive behavior of intertidal hermit crabs (Decapoda, Anomura) in southeastern Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 22, 313–319.Google Scholar
Turra, A and Leite, FPP (2004) Shell-size selection by intertidal sympatric hermit crabs. Marine Biology 145, 251–257.Google Scholar
Vance, RR (1972) The role of shell adequacy in behavioral interactions involving hermit crabs. Ecology 53, 1075–1083.Google Scholar
Van der Velden, J, Zheng, Y, Patullo, BW and Macmillan, DL (2008) Crayfish recognize the faces of fight opponents. PLoS ONE 3, e1695.Google Scholar