Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of shell utilization on reproductive patterns in tropical hermit crabs

  • Published:
Marine Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Dittoral and sublittoral hermit crabs (Coenobita clypeatus, Clibanarius tricolor, Calcinus dibicen, Petrochirus diogenes, Paguristes grayi, Pagurus miamensis, Paguristes tortugae, Paguristes cadenati and Pagurus sp.) were studied on Lighthouse Atoll, Belize. The Clibanarius tricolor population differed markedly in mean clutch size from congeneric populations at temperate latitudes and from conspecific populations in the Florida Keys. These differences can be attributed primarily to variation in shell utilization pattern, overlap with competitors, and breeding season. Regression analyses indicate that shell weight but not internal shell volume affects the clutch size of C. tricolor in Belize, probably due to selection for optimum volume resulting in the use of broken and encrusted shells with high weight: volume ratios. Both egg size and clutch size differed significantly among egg developmental stages in C. tricolor, Calcinus tibicen, and Pagurus miamensis.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Literature cited

  • Abbott, R.T.: The genera Xancus and Vasum in the western Atlantic. Johnsonia 2 (28), 201–218 (1950)

    Google Scholar 

  • —: The marine mollusks of Grand Gayman Island, British West Indies. Monogr. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad. 11, 1–138 (1958)

    Google Scholar 

  • Abbott, R.T.: American seashells, 2nd ed. 663 pp. Van Nostrand Reinhold 1974

  • Ameyaw-Akumfi, C.: The breeding biology of two sympatric species of tropical intertidal hermit crabs, Clibanarius chapini and C. senegalensis. Mar. Biol. 29, 15–28 (1975)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bach, C., B. Hazlett and D. Rittschof: Effects of interspecific competition on fitness of the hermit crab Clibanarius tricolor. Ecology 57, 579–586 (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  • Childress, J.R.: Behavioral ecology and fitness theory in a tropical hermit crab. Ecology 53, 960–964 (1972)

    Google Scholar 

  • Clench, W.J.: The genera Purpura and Thais in the western Atlantic. Johnsonia 2 (23), 61–91 (1947)

    Google Scholar 

  • — and R.D. Turner: The family Cymatiidae in the western Atlantic. Johnsonia 3 (36), 189–244 (1957)

    Google Scholar 

  • Forest, J.: Sur un pagure littoral noveau de la Martinique, Paguristes cadenati sp. nov. Bull. Mus. natn. Hist. nat., Paris (2e sér.) 26, 353–357 (1954)

    Google Scholar 

  • Fotheringham, N.: Effects of shell stress on the growth of hermit crabs. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 23, 299–305 (1976a)

    Google Scholar 

  • —: Population consequences of shell utilization by hermit crabs. Ecology 57, 570–578 (1976b)

    Google Scholar 

  • Graus, R.R.: Latitudinal trends in the shell characteristics of marine gastropods. Lethaia 7, 303–314 (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hazlett, B.A.: Social behavior of the Paguridae and Diogenidae of Curaçao. Stud. Fauna Curaçao 23, 1–143 (1966)

    Google Scholar 

  • —: Interspecific shell fighting in three sympatric species of hermit crabs in Hawaii. Pacif. Sci. 24, 472–482 (1970)

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, H.G.: Eupagurus. Proc. Trans. Lpool biol. Soc. 27, 495–573 (1913)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamalaveni, S.: On the ovaries, copulation and egg-formation in the hermit-crab, Clibanarius olivaceous Henderson (Crustacea, Decapoda). J. zool. Soc. India 1, 120–128 (1949)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, J.B.: The fauna of rocky shores of Barbados, West Indies. Can. J. Zool. 38, 391–435 (1960)

    Google Scholar 

  • Markham, J.C.: Notes on growth-patterns and shell-utilization of the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus (L.). Ophelia 5, 189–205 (1963)

    Google Scholar 

  • McLaughlin, P.A. and A.J. Provenzano, Jr.: Hermit crabs of the genus Paguristes (Crustacea: Decapoda: Diogenidae) from the western Atlantic. Part. I. The Paguristes tortugae complex, with notes on variation. Bull. mar. Sci. 24, 165–234 (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  • Provenzano, A.J., Jr.: The shallow-water hermit crabs of Florida. Bull. mar. Sci. Gulf Caribb. 9, 349–420 (1959)

    Google Scholar 

  • —: Notes on Bermuda hermit crabs (Crustacea: Anomura). Bull. mar. Sci. Gulf Caribb. 10, 117–124 (1960)

    Google Scholar 

  • —: Note on Paguristes cadenati, a hermit crab new to Florida. Q. Jl Fla Acad. Sci. 23, 325–327 (1961)

    Google Scholar 

  • Prese, E.S.: Annual breeding seasons of three sympatric species of tropical intertidal hermit crabs, with a discussion of factors controlling breeding. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 2, 308–318 (1968)

    Google Scholar 

  • —: Behavioral adaptation of intertidal hermit crabs. Am. Zool. 9, 343–355 (1969)

    Google Scholar 

  • Spight, T.M.: Diversity of shallow-water gastropod communities on temperate and tropical beaches. Am. Nat. 111, 1077–1098 (1977)

    Google Scholar 

  • Stoddart, D.R.: Three Caribbean atolls: Turneffe Islands, Lighthouse Reef, and Glover's Reef, British Honduras. Atoll Res. Bull. 87, 1–151 (1962)

    Google Scholar 

  • —: Post-hurricane changes on the British Honduras reefs and cays: re-survey of 1965. Atoll Res. Bull. 131, 1–25 (1969)

    Google Scholar 

  • Vance, R.R.: Competition and mechanism of coexistence in three sympatric species of intertidal hermit crabs. Ecology 53, 1062–1074 (1972)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ward, J.: A description of a new zooplankton counter. Q. Jl microsc. Sci. 96, 371–373 (1955)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilde, de, R.A.W.J.: On the ecology of Coenobita clypeatus in Curaçao. Stud. Fauna Curaçao 44, 1–138 (1973)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dames & Moore, 2020 North Loop West, 77018, Houston, Texas, USA

    N. Fotheringham

Authors
  1. N. Fotheringham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Communicated by J.M. Lawrence, Tampa

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fotheringham, N. Effects of shell utilization on reproductive patterns in tropical hermit crabs. Mar. Biol. 55, 287–293 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00393781

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00393781

Keywords

Search

Navigation