Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-swr86 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T01:47:39.408Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mating behaviour of the leucosiid crab Pyrhila pisum (De Haan, 1841)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2019

Satoshi Kobayashi Open the ORCID record for Satoshi Kobayashi [Opens in a new window]  and
Miguel Vazquez Archdale
Satoshi Kobayashi*
Affiliation:
Hakozaki 3-36-36-401, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka City812-0053, Japan
Miguel Vazquez Archdale
Affiliation:
Fisheries Resources Science Department, Faculty of Fisheries, Kagoshima University, Shimoarata 4-50-20, Kagoshima City890-0056, Japan
*
Author for correspondence: Satoshi Kobayashi, E-mail: mokuzuz@rock.odn.ne.jp
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Mating behaviour of the leucosiid crab Pyrhila pisum was studied in the laboratory and tidal flats in Japan. Most males actively approached females. Males started guarding females without any courtship behaviour (pre-copulatory guarding). Males began copulation within several minutes. The copulation continued for about 1–2 h, following which males began post-copulatory guarding. This guarding lasted from almost 0 to over 3 days, but its duration was generally much longer than that prior to copulation. Release of guarding was not linked to ovulation by females. Long-term rearing experiments revealed that both sexes of P. pisum could copulate multiple times with various mates. Developmental stages of the embryos recorded from copulating ovigerous females widely varied; their timing of copulation may not be fixed. In the tidal flat, wandering males frequently contacted with other individuals, but without distinguishing single males, single females and pairs of P. pisum, or Hemigrapsus takanoi. Male P. pisum cannot recognize female conspecifics, and they approach their mates relying only on vision, without using any attractive cues from females. In cases in which males encountered pairing crabs, they successfully stole the females when the guardians were smaller than the challengers, suggesting that effectiveness of guarding depends on male size. Among the mating pairs, males tended to be larger than females, and the tendency of size-assortative mating was weak or absent. Therefore, the mating behaviour of P. pisum is not elaborate, although their guarding behaviour may contribute to improve success to some degree.

Keywords

Copulationguarding behaviourleucosiid crabmating behaviourPyrhila pisumtidal flats
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 100 , Issue 1 , February 2020 , pp. 103 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Almeida, AC, Hiyodo, CM, Cobo, VJ, Bertini, G, Fransozo, V and Teixeira, GM (2013) Relative growth, sexual maturity, and breeding season of three species of the genus Persephona (Decapoda: Brachyura: Leucosiidae): a comparative study. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 93, 1581–1591.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersson, MB (1994) Sexual Selection. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asakura, A (2009) The evolution of mating systems in decapod crustaceans. In Martin, JW, Crandall, KA and Felder, DL (eds), Decapod Crustacean Phylogenetics. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, pp. 121–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berrill, M and Arsenhault, M (1982) Mating behavior of the green shore crab Carcinus maenas. Bulletin of Marine Science 32, 632–638.Google Scholar
Christy, JH (1987) Competitive mating, mate choice and mating associations of brachyuran crabs. Bulletin of Marine Science 41, 177–191.Google Scholar
Christy, JH and Salmon, M (1984) Ecology and evolution of mating systems of fiddler crabs (genus Uca). Biological Review 59, 483–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, AHL and Backwell, PRY (2016) Assortative mating in a fiddler crab. Behaviour 153, 175–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crespi, BJ (1989) Causes of assortative mating in arthropods. Animal Behaviour 38, 980–1000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, NB, Krebs, J and West, SA (2012) An Introduction to Behavioral Ecology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Diesel, R (1986) Optimal mate searching strategy in the symbiotic spider crab Inachus phalangium (Decapoda). Ethology 72, 311–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diesel, R (1991) Sperm competition and the evolution of mating behavior in Brachyura, with special reference to spider crabs (Decapoda: Majidae). In Bauer, RG and Martin, JW (eds), Crustacean Sexual Biology. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, pp. 145–163.Google Scholar
Dunham, PJ (1978) Sex pheromones in Crustacea. Biological Review 53, 555–583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, E (1966) Mating behavior in the European edible crab (Cancer pagurus L.). Crustaceana 10, 23–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fazhan, H, Waiho, K, Wan Norfaizza, WI, Megat, FH and Ikhwanuddin, M (2017) Assortative mating by size in three species of mud crabs, genus Scylla (Brachyura: Portunidae). Journal of Crustacean Biology 37, 654–660.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fukui, Y (1995) The effects of body size on mate choice in a grapsid crab, Gaetice depressus (Crustacea, Decapoda). Journal of Ethology 13, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galil, BS (2009) An examination of the genus Philyra Leach, 1817 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Leucosiidae) with descriptions of seven new genera and six new species. Zoosystema 31, 279–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goshima, S, Koga, T and Murai, M (1996) Mate acceptance and guarding by male fiddler crabs Uca tetragonon (Herbst). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 196, 131–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grafen, A and Ridley, M (1983) A model of mate guarding. Journal of Theoretical Biology 102, 549–567.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hale, HM (1926) Habits of the smooth pebble crab (Philyra laevis Bell). South Australian Naturalist, Adelaide 7, 67–69.Google Scholar
Hartnoll, RG (1969) Mating in the Brachyura. Crustaceana 16, 161–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayer, S, Shubert, CD and Brandis, D (2015) Morphology and function of the female reproductive system of Ebalia tunefacta (Decapoda, Brachyura, Leucosidae). Journal of Morphology 276, 517–525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higashi, N and Furota, T (1996) Reproductive ecology of the intertidal leucosiid crab, Pyrhila pisum, in Obitsu tidal flat, Tokyo Bay. Bulletin of Biological Society of Chiba 45, 1–6. (In Japanese).Google Scholar
Jivoff, P and Hines, AH (1998) Female behaviour, sexual competition and mate guarding in the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. Animal Behaviour 55, 589–603.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kamio, M, Matsunaga, S and Fusetani, N (2000) Studies on sex pheromones of the helmet crab, Telmessus cheiragonus 1. An assay based on precopulatory mate-guarding. Zoological Science 17, 731–733.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kobayashi, S (1999) Mating behavior of the Japanese mitten crab Eriocheir japonica (de Haan). In Okutani, T, Ohta, S and Ueshima, R (eds), Updated Progress in Aquatic Invertebrate Zoology. Tokyo: Tokai University Press, pp. 231–247. (In Japanese).Google Scholar
Kobayashi, S and Vazquez Archdale, M (2017) Occurrence pattern and reproductive ecology of the leucosiid crab Pyrhila pisum (De Haan) in tidal flats in Hakata Bay, Fukuoka, Japan. Crustacean Research 46, 103–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naidu, KGRB (1954) A note on the courtship in the sand crab (Philyra scabriuscula (Fabricius)). Journal of Bombay Natural Historical Society 52, 640–641.Google Scholar
Ng, PK, Guinot, D and Davie, PJF (2008) Systema Brachyurorum: Part I. An annotated checklist of extant brachyuran crabs of the world. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 17, 1–286.Google Scholar
Perez, DM, Rosenberg, MS and Pie, MR (2012) The evolution of waving displays in fiddler crabs (Uca spp., Crustacea, Ocypodidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 106, 307–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rondeau, A and Sainte-Marie, B (2001) Variable mate-guarding time and sperm allocation by male snow crabs (Chionoecetes opilio) in response to sexual competition, and their impact on the mating success of females. Biological Bulletin 201, 204–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salmon, M (1983) Courtship, mating systems, and sexual selection in decapods. In Rebach, S and Dunhum, DW (eds), Studies in Adaptation: The Behavior of Higher Crustacea. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons, pp. 143–169.Google Scholar
Sal Moyano, MP, Gavio, MA, McLay, CL and Luppi, T (2014) Variation in the post-copulatory guarding behavior of Neohelice granulata (Brachyura, Grapsoidae, Varunidae) in two different habitats. Marine Ecology 36, 1185–1194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Savage, T (1971) Mating of the stone crab, Menippe mercenaria (Say) (Decapoda, Brachyura). Crustaceana 20, 315–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schembri, PJ (1983) Courtship and mating behaviour in Ebalia tuberosa (Pennant) (Decapoda, Brachyura, Leucosiidae). Crustaceana 45, 77–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snow, CD and Neilsen, JR (2011) Premating and mating behavior of the Dungeness crab (Cancer magister Dana). Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 23, 1319–1323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suzuki, T (2012) Pyrhila pisum. In Japanese Association of Benthology (eds), Threatened Animals of Japanese Tidal Flats: Red Data Book of Seashore Benthos. Tokyo: Tokai University Press, p. 191. (In Japanese).Google Scholar
Waiho, K, Mustaqim, M, Fazhan, H, Norfaizza, WIW, Megat, FH and Ikhwanuddin, M (2015) Mating behaviour of the orange mud crab, Scylla olivacea: the effect of sex ratio and stocking density on mating success. Aquaculture Reports 2, 50–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilber, DH (1989) The influence of sexual selection and predation on the mating and postcopulatory guarding behavior of stone crabs (Xanthidae, Menippe). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 24, 445–451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yamamura, N (1986) An evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) model of postcopulatory guarding in insects. Theoretical Population Biology 29, 438–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeil, J and Hemmi, JM (2006) The visual ecology of fiddler crabs. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 192, 1–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed