Summary
This study is the first to demonstrate experimentally that autotomy (self-amputation of a body part) adversely affects competition for mates. Experiments were conducted using blue crabs Callinectes sapidus Rathbun to examine the consequences of limb loss and pairing precedence on mate acquisition by males. Two adult males of equivalent size were introduced sequentially into pools containing a sexually-receptive female and observed after 24 h and 48 h. One male in each pair was left intact, while the other experienced: (1) no autotomy, (2) autotomy of one cheliped, or (3) autotomy of both chelipeds, one walking leg, and one swimming leg. In the absence of a competitor (first 24 h), both intact and injured males established precopulatory embraces with females. Intact males were highly successful (84–95%) in defending females from intact or injured intruders in the second 24 h period. Both autotomy treatments, however, significantly reduced the ability of males to defend females from intact intruders. Females in experiments suffered greater frequency of limb loss than did males. In the field, paired blue crabs showed significantly higher incidence of limb loss than unpaired crabs. Limb loss frequency increases with body size, and field observations indicated that larger males may be more successful than smaller males in obtaining females. Both experimental manipulations and field studies provide strong evidence for mate competition in this ecologically and commercially important portunid species.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ary RD Jr, Bartell CK, Grisoli RM, Poirrier MA (1985) Morphological changes in regenerating chelipeds of the blue crab Callinectes sapidus Rathbun as indicators of the progression of the molt cycle. J Shellfish Res 5:1–8
Atema J (1986) Review of sexual selection and chemical communication in the lobster, Homarus americanus. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 43:2283–2390
Berrill M, Arsenault M (1982) Mating behavior of the green shore crab Carcinus maenas. Bull Mar Sci 32:632–638
Berzins IK, Caldwell RL (1983) The effect of injury on the agonistic behavior of the stomatopod, Gonodactylus bredini (Manning). Mar Behav Physiol 10:83–96
Borgia G (1980) Sexual competition in Scatophaga stercoraria: size-and density-related changes in male ability to capture females. Behaviour 75:185–206
Bowmer T, Keegan BF (1983) Field survey of the occurrence and significance of regeneration in Amphiura filiformis (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) from Galway Bay, west coast of Ireland. Mar Biol 74:65–71
Christofferson JP (1978) Evidence for the controlled release of a crustacean sex pheromone. J Chem Ecol 4:633–639
Christy JH (1987) Competitive mating, mate choice and mating associations of brachyuran crabs. Bull Mar Sci 41:177–191
Conover MR, Miller DE (1978) The importance of the large chela in the territorial and pairing behaviour of the snapping shrimp, Alpheus heterochaelis. Mar Behav Physiol 5:185–192
Cowan DF, Atema J (1990) Moult staggering and serial monogamy in American lobsters, Homarus americanus. Anim Behav 39:1199–1206
Cox DR, Snell EJ (1989) Analysis of binary data. Second edition, Chapman and Hall, New York
Dial BE, Fitzpatrick LC (1984) Predator escape success in tailed versus tailless Scincella lateralis (Sauria: Scicidae). Anim Behav 32:301–302
Dial BE, Fitzpatrick LC (1981) The energetic costs of tail autotomy to reproduction in the lizard Coleonyx brevis (Sauria: Gekkonidae). Oecologia 51:310–317
Diesel R (1991) Sperm competition and the evolution of mating behavior in Brachyura, with special reference to spider, crabs (Decapoda, Majidae). In: Bauer RT and Martin JW (eds) Crustacean Sexual Biology. Columbia University Press, New York, pp 145–163
Diesel R (1988) Male-female association in the spider crab Inachus phalangium: the influence of female reproductive stage and size. J Crust Biol 8:63–69
Eisner T, Camazine S (1983) Spider leg autotomy induced by prey venom injection: an adaptive response to ‘pain’? Proc Nat Acad Sci 80:3382–3385
Emlen ST, Oring LW (1977) Ecology, sexual selection, and the evolution of mating systems. Science 197:215–223
Fishelson L, Kidron G (1968) Experiments and observations on the histology and mechanism of autotomy and regeneration in Gena varia (Prosobranchia, Trochidae). J Exp Zool 169:93–106
Flecker AS, Allan JD, McClintock NL (1988) Male body size and mating success in swarms of the mayfly Epeorus longimanus. Holarc Ecol 11:280–285
Gleeson RA (1991) Intrinsic factors mediating pheromone communication in the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. In: Bauer RT and Martin JW (eds) Crustacean Sexual Biology. Columbia University Press, New York, pp 17–32
Gleeson RA (1980) Pheromone communication in the reproductive behavior of the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. Mar Behav Physiol 7:119–134
Grafen A, Ridley M (1983) A model of mate guarding. J Theor Biol 102:549–567
Harris RN (1989) Nonlethal injury to organisms as a mechanism of population regulation. Am Nat 134:835–847
Hartnoll RG (1982) Growth. In: Bliss DE (ed) The biology of crustacea, vol 2. Academic Press, New York, pp 111–196
Hazlett BA (1972) Responses to agonistic postures by the spider crab Microphrys bicornutus. Mar Behav Physiol 1:85–92
Hieber CS, Cohen JA (1983) Sexual selection in the lovebug, Plecia nearctica: the role of male choice. Evolution 37:987–992
Houck LD (1982) Mail tail loss and courtship success in the plethodontic salamander Desmognathus ochrophaeus. J Herpetol 16:335–340
Hyatt GW, Salmon M (1978) Combat in the fiddler crabs Uca pugilator and U. pugnax: a quantitative analysis. Behaviour 65:182–211
Ims RA (1988) The potential for sexual selection in males: effect of sex ratio and spatiotemporal distribution of receptive females. Evol Ecol 2:338–352
Jachowski RL (1974) Agonistic behavior of the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun. Behaviour 50:232–253
Johnson PT (1980) Histology of the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. A model for the Decapoda. Praeger Sci Publ Co, New York
Karnofsky EB, Price HJ (1989) Dominance, territoriality and mating in the lobster, Homarus americanus: a mesocosm study. Mar Behav Physiol 15:101–121
Kennedy B, Kryvi H (1980) Autotomy in a polychaete: abscission zone at the base of the tentacular crown of Sabella penicillus. Zoomorphology 96:33–43
Kuris AM, Mager M (1975) Effect of limb regeneration on size increase at molt of the shore crabs Hemigrapsus oregonensis and Pachygrapsus crassipes. J Exp Zool 193:353–360
Lewin RA (1970) Toxin secretion and tail autotomy by irritated Oxynoe panamensis (Opisthobranchiata: Sacoglossa). Pac Sci 24:356–358
McVean A (1982) Autotomy. In: Bliss DE (ed) The biology of crustacea, vol 4. Academic Press, New York, pp 107–123
Maiorana VC (1977) Tail autotomy, functional conflicts and their resolution by a salamander. Nature 265:533–535
Millikin MR, Williams AB (1984) Synopsis of biological data on the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun. NOAA Technical Report NMFS 1. FAO Fisheries Synopsis No. 138.
O'Neill DJ, Cobb JS (1979) Some factors influencing the outcome of shelter competition in lobsters (Homarus americanus). Mar Behav Physiol 6:33–45
Parker GA (1974) Courtship persistence and female-guarding as male time investment strategies. Behaviour 48:157–184
Ralls K (1977) Sexual dimorphism in mammals: avian models and unanswered questions. Am Nat 111:917–938
Ridley M, Thompson DJ (1979) Size and mating in Asellus aquaticus (Crustacea: Isopoda). Z Tierpsychol 51:380–397
Robinson JV, Shaffer LR, Hagemeier DD, Smatresk NJ (1991a) The ecological role of caudal lamellae loss in the larval damselfly, Ischnura posita (Hagen) (Odonata: Zygoptera). Oecologia 87:1–7
Robinson JV, Hayworth DA, Harvey MB (1991b) The effect of caudal lamellae loss on swimming speed of the damselfly Argia moesta (Hagen) (Odonata: Coenagionidae). Am Midl Nat 125:240–244
Robinson MH, Abele LG, Robinson B (1970) Attack autotomy: a defense against predators. Science 169:300–301
SAS Institute (1985) SAS User's Guide: Statistics. Version 5 Edition, SAS Institute Inc, Cary, North Carolina
Schone H (1968) Agonistic and sexual display in aquatic and semiterrestrial brachyuran crabs. Am Zool 8:641–654
Sekkelsten GI (1988) Effect of handicap on mating success in male shore crabs Carcinus maenas. Oikos 51:131–134
Shine R (1979) Sexual selection and sexual dimorphism in the Amphibia. Copeia 1979:297–306
Shirley MA, Hines AH, Wolcott TG (1991) Adaptive significance of habitat selection by molting adult blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, within a subestuary of central Chesapeake Bay. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 140:107–119
Slater A, Lawrence JM (1980) The effect of arm loss on feeding and growth rates in Luidia clathrata. Fla Sci 43:16
Smith LD (1990a) Patterns of limb loss in the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, and the effects of autotomy on growth. Bull Mar Sci 46:23–36
Smith LD (1990b) The frequency and ecological consequences of limb autotomy in the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun. PhD dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
Smith LD, Hines AH (1991a) Autotomy in blue crab (Callinectes sapidus Rathbun) populations: geographic, temporal, and ontogenetic variation. Biol Bull 180:416–431
Smith LD, Hines AH (1991b) The effect of cheliped loss on blue crab (Callinectes sapidus Rathbun) foraging rate on soft-shell clams (Mya arenaria L.). J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 151:245–256
Smyth M (1974) Changes in the fat stores of the skinks Morethia boulengeri and Hemiergis peronii (Lacertilia). Austr J Zool 22:135–145
Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1981) Biometry. WH Freeman, New York
Spirito CP (1972) An analysis of swimming behavior in the portunid crab Callinectes sapidus. Mar Behav Physiol 1:261–276
Tagatz ME (1968) Growth of juvenile blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, in the St. Johns River, Florida. Fish Bull 67:281–288
Van Buskirk J, Smith DC (1991) Density-dependent population regulation in a salamander. Ecology 72:1747–1756
Van Engel WA (1958) The blue crab and its fishery in Chesapeake Bay: Part 1 — Reproduction, early development, growth, and migration. Comm Fish Rev 20:6–17
Van Engel WA (1990) Development of the reproductively functional form in the male blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. Bull Mar Sci 46:13–22
Vitt LJ, Cooper WE (1986) Tail loss, tail color, and predator escape in Eumeces (Lacertilia: Scincidae): age-specific differences in costs and benefits. Can J Zool 64:683–792
Vitt LJ, Congdon JD, Dickson NA (1977) Adaptive strategies and energetics of tail autotomy in lizards. Ecology 58:326–337
Wenner EL (1989) Incidence of insemination in female blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus. J Crus Biol 9:587–594
Willis L, Threlkeld ST, Carpenter CC (1982) Tail loss patterns in Thamnophis (Reptilia: Colubridae) and the probable fate of injured individuals. Copeia 1982:98–101
Zeh DW (1987) Aggression, density, and sexual dimorphism in chernitid pseudoscorpions (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpionida). Evolution 41:1072–1087
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Smith, L.D. The impact of limb autotomy on mate competition in blue crabs Callinectes sapidus Rathbun. Oecologia 89, 494–501 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317155
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317155