Shell selection in the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus

1976 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 335-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. A. Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Hermit Crab ◽  
Pagurus Bernhardus

scholarly journals Microplastics disrupt hermit crab shell selection

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 20200030 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Crump ◽  
Charlotte Mullens ◽  
Emily J. Bethell ◽  
Eoghan M. Cunningham ◽  
Gareth Arnott
Keyword(s):  
Hermit Crab ◽  
Information Gathering ◽  
Animal Behaviour ◽  
Hermit Crabs ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Crab Shell ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
Pagurus Bernhardus

Microplastics (plastics < 5 mm) are a potential threat to marine biodiversity. However, the effects of microplastic pollution on animal behaviour and cognition are poorly understood. We used shell selection in common European hermit crabs ( Pagurus bernhardus ) as a model to test whether microplastic exposure impacts the essential survival behaviours of contacting, investigating and entering an optimal shell. We kept 64 female hermit crabs in tanks containing either polyethylene spheres ( n = 35) or no plastic ( n = 29) for 5 days. We then transferred subjects into suboptimal shells and placed them in an observation tank with an optimal alternative shell. Plastic-exposed hermit crabs showed impaired shell selection: they were less likely than controls to contact optimal shells or enter them. They also took longer to contact and enter the optimal shell. Plastic exposure did not affect time spent investigating the optimal shell. These results indicate that microplastics impair cognition (information-gathering and processing), disrupting an essential survival behaviour in hermit crabs.

The costs of bearing arms and armour in the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus

2010 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 637-642 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Doake ◽  
M. Scantlebury ◽  
R.W. Elwood
Keyword(s):  
Hermit Crab ◽  
Pagurus Bernhardus

Influences on movement and migration in the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus

1990 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 483-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Lancaster ◽  
G.D. Wigham
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Hermit Crab ◽  
Movement Patterns ◽  
Hermit Crabs ◽  
Residence Times ◽  
South West ◽  
Pagurus Bernhardus ◽  
And Migration ◽  
South West England

Dispersion in a littoral population of Pagurus bernhardus in south-west England is shown to be random, with members demonstrating no evidence of site attachment. Movement patterns within the population are shown to be asynchronous and random, and to be dictated by the quantity and quality of each individual's shell contacts. These, in turn, affect the time that individuals spend within the habitat. This implies that population dynamics and residence times are so influenced by the availability of suitable empty gastropod shells that movement and migration in hermit crabs should be regarded as resource-dependent phenomena.

scholarly journals Transition from sea to land: olfactory function and constraints in the terrestrial hermit crab Coenobita clypeatus

2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1742) ◽  
pp. 3510-3519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Sara Krång ◽  
Markus Knaden ◽  
Kathrin Steck ◽  
Bill S. Hansson
Keyword(s):  
Hermit Crab ◽  
Olfactory System ◽  
Response Spectrum ◽  
Opposite Polarity ◽  
Water Soluble ◽  
Hermit Crabs ◽  
Larval Stages ◽  
Terrestrial Life ◽  
Pagurus Bernhardus ◽  
Chemical Groups

The ability to identify chemical cues in the environment is essential to most animals. Apart from marine larval stages, anomuran land hermit crabs ( Coenobita ) have evolved different degrees of terrestriality, and thus represent an excellent opportunity to investigate adaptations of the olfactory system needed for a successful transition from aquatic to terrestrial life. Although superb processing capacities of the central olfactory system have been indicated in Coenobita and their olfactory system evidently is functional on land, virtually nothing was known about what type of odourants are detected. Here, we used electroantennogram (EAG) recordings in Coenobita clypeatus and established the olfactory response spectrum. Interestingly, different chemical groups elicited EAG responses of opposite polarity, which also appeared for Coenobita compressus and the closely related marine hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus. Furthermore, in a two-choice bioassay with C. clypeatus, we found that water vapour was critical for natural and synthetic odourants to induce attraction or repulsion. Strikingly, also the physiological response was found much greater at higher humidity in C. clypeatus , whereas no such effect appeared in the terrestrial vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster . In conclusion, our results reveal that the Coenobita olfactory system is restricted to a limited number of water-soluble odourants, and that high humidity is most critical for its function.

Factors Influencing Shell Investigation in the Hermit Crab, Pagurus bernhardus

Ethology ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan J. Neil ◽  
Robert W. Elwood
Keyword(s):  
Hermit Crab ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Pagurus Bernhardus

The association between the hermit crab Dardanus arrosor (Herbst) and the sea anemone Calliactis parasitica (Couch)

1961 ◽  
Vol 155 (959) ◽  
pp. 282-291 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Hermit Crab ◽  
Sea Anemone ◽  
The Other ◽  
Behaviour Pattern ◽  
Normal Behaviour ◽  
Molluscan Shell ◽  
Calliactis Parasitica ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Pagurus Bernhardus ◽  
Marked Tendency

The association between Calliactis parasitica and the Mediterranean hermit crab, Dardanus arrosor , has been re-examined. It was confirmed that, unlike the Atlantic crab, Pagurus bernhardus , Dardanus arrosor can display an active behaviour pattern which assists the transfer of Calliactis to its shell. Extensive trials showed, however, a marked tendency for crabs to divide into two groups: ‘performers’, which show this behaviour almost without fail; ‘non-performers’, which almost never show this activity. Most of the ‘performers’ were females and the ‘non-performers’ males. Calliactis frequently transfers to Dardanus -occupied shells without the crab’s help. Actively ‘performing’ Dardanus often fail to transfer Calliactis to their shells. Observations on these cases and experiments with inactivated shells show that for successful crab-aided transfers the co-operation of the anemone is necessary. This co-operation depends on a response of the tentacles to the shell. Apparently it is similar to the ‘clinging’ response to Buccinum shells at Plymouth, now known to depend on a molluscan shell-factor. Crabs and anemones from the Atlantic and the Mediterranean are able to form associations and display their normal behaviour patterns in response to individual partners from the other population. The results are discussed in relation to the possible origins and advantages of the association to the two partners in the two cases.

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