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Comparative locomotor activity patterns in the portunid crabs Liocarcinus holsatus and L. depurator

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

P. Abelló ,
D. G. Reid  and
E. Naylor
P. Abelló
Affiliation:
School of Ocean Sciences, University College of North Wales, Menai Bridge, Gwynedd, LL59 5EY Present addresses: Institut de Ciencies del Mar, Passeig Nacional, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
D. G. Reid
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland, Marine Laboratories, Victoria Road, PO Box 101, Torry, Aberdeen, AB DB
E. Naylor
Affiliation:
School of Ocean Sciences, University College of North Wales, Menai Bridge, Gwynedd, LL59 5EY
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Extract

The free-running locomotor activity rhythms of freshly-captured swimming crabs Liocarcinus holsatus and L. depurator have been studied in constant conditions in the laboratory. L. holsatus captured in the intertidal zone of sandy beaches showed strong circatidal activity rhythms with maximum activity at high tide. L. holsatus captured in the sublittoral zone had a clear tendency to show circadian activity rhythms with highest activity during day-time hours. L. depurator occurred only sublittorally and showed circadian activity patterns with highest activity during the night. Exposure to hydrostatic pressure cycles of tidal amplitude and periodicity, entrained strong circatidal activity rhythms in previously arhythmic L. holsatus. This activity pattern also showed a marked circadian component. Exposure to the same regime entrained a circadian rhythm, but not a circatidal rhythm in L. depurator. In the sublittoral zone L. depurator is active mainly during the night, whereas L. holsatus, is active mainly during the day. This may constitute a behavioural mechanism for minimizing competitive interactions between these two sympatric crabs.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 71 , Issue 1 , February 1991 , pp. 1 - 10
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1991

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