Grooming behaviors and fouling of the spider crab Libinia dubia (Decapoda: Epialtidae)

Body fouling has been reduced by grooming behaviors. In decapods, grooming has been focused on gills, sensory structures, and jointed appendages. In this study, grooming behaviors of the spider crab, Libinia dubia H. Milne-Edwards, 1834, were examined; this brachyuran crab decorates and camouflages...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nauplius 2019, Vol.27, p.e2019009
Main Authors: Wortham, Jen L., Jedlicka, Jace
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ablation
Aquatic crustaceans
Brachyura
camouflage
Crab culture
crustacean
Decorating
Fouling
Gills
Libinia dubia
Marine
Marine crustaceans
Regions
Reproductive behaviour
Setae
Variance analysis
ZOOLOGY
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Body fouling has been reduced by grooming behaviors. In decapods, grooming has been focused on gills, sensory structures, and jointed appendages. In this study, grooming behaviors of the spider crab, Libinia dubia H. Milne-Edwards, 1834, were examined; this brachyuran crab decorates and camouflages body regions by attaching materials onto hooked setae. The relationship between grooming and these camouflaged body regions was unknown. Six observational and experimental studies examined the grooming frequency, duration of grooming behaviors, body regions groomed, variance of these behaviors in the presence of another individual, and the efficiency of these grooming behaviors at removing gill fouling. Sensory and respiratory structures were groomed most frequently and for the longest duration, not body regions with decorations and hooked setae. Crabs in isolation exhibited the highest grooming time budget (5.22%). The presence of another conspecific decreased the grooming time budget (0.67%), and primary actions (e.g., fighting, displaying, mating) became priority. Ablation of a gill-grooming appendage did not impact fouling on gills. Grooming as a secondary action was supported. Reasons for not grooming body regions with hooked setae were discussed. Spider crabs had a lower time budget for grooming compared to most decapods, but similar to another brachyuran
ISSN:2358-2936
0104-6497
2358-2936
DOI:10.1590/2358-2936e2019009