Evidence for the controlled release of a crustacean sex pheromone

Christofferson, Jay P.

doi:10.1007/bf00990273

Cited by 32 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…There is little evidence for the evolution of novel hormonal compounds and their related receptors in fish (Wyatt 2010), and how widespread the use of nucleotides is in crustaceans remains to be examined. Christofferson (1978) found that a single unpaired male Portunus sanguinolentus in the presence of a coupled pair does not initiate courtship behavior. He attributed this to the lack of pheromone, due to the cessation of urine release, or the production of a masking factor.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Identification of a female sex pheromone in Carcinus maenas

Hardege

Bartels‐Hardege²,

Fletcher³

et al. 2011

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Identification of a female sex pheromone in Carcinus maenas

Hardege

Bartels‐Hardege²,

Fletcher³

et al. 2011

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…When the male is first attracted to the female, he typically displays a stereotyped behaviour in which the male rises up on Pereiopods 2 to 4, essentially on 'tip toe', and advances slowly towards the female (Bamber & Naylor 1996a). This forward searching behaviour can be elicited by the presence of precopula females and also by exposure to their urine, indicating the importance of a female sex pheromone (Christofferson 1978, Bamber & Naylor 1996b. Urine collected from pre-moult females induced sexual behaviour in male crabs when tested using an actograph (Bamber & Naylor 1996a).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Novel behavioural assay and partial purification of a female-derived sex pheromone in Carcinus maenas

Jennings²,

Hayden³

et al. 2002

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that females of the shore crab Carcinus maenas release a sex pheromone to induce the pre-copula behaviour leading to the formation of mating pairs. In the novel behavioural assay, a positive response to a female-derived signal involves 'homosexual' behaviour: a pre-copula male moves towards another pre-copula male that has been 'exposed' to the substance(s) under investigation. The assay male grasps the 'pheromone-treated' male (the 'pseudo-female') to test the hardness of the cuticle with its chelipeds, and invariably proceeds to manipulate the pseudo-female beneath its abdomen as in pre-copula ('homosexual pair formation'). Control males show an agonistic behaviour towards each other. Male shore crabs will also attempt to pair with non-crab-like objects, such as stones, if these are conditioned with female pheromone. This demonstrates that male mate selection in Carcinus maenas is based primarily on the detection of female odour compounds. Urine collected from the urinary bladder of pre-copula females, as well as 'culture water' obtained from these females, elicited a positive response, whereas similar samples collected from inter-moult females failed to induce a sexual response in males. Preliminary characterisation of the 'waterborne cue(s)' revealed the sex pheromone(s) to be smaller than 1000 Da molecular weight, sparingly soluble in organic solvents, lyophilisable, and chemically distinct from 20-hydroxyecdysone (crustecdysone) and arthropodin. Crustecdysone showed no biological activity in the assay and was not detectable in the bioactive HPLC fraction. Although this does not completely rule out a steroidal character for the sex pheromone, LC-MS analyses utilising electrospray and atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation (APCI) did not show a steroid in the bioactive fraction. KEY WORDS: Sex pheromone · Shore crab · Bioassay · Carcinus maenas · 20-hydroxyecdysone Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherMar Ecol Prog Ser 244: [179][180][181][182][183][184][185][186][187][188][189] 2002 The existence of a female sex pheromone in crustaceans was first demonstrated in Portunus sanguinolentus (Ryan 1966). Since then, the list of crustacean species for which there is evidence of a sex pheromone has become extensive and still continues to grow (Dunham 1988, Bouchard et al. 1996. It includes the lobster Homarus americanus, where females orientate towards male burrows in response to sex attractants emitted by males and female-produced sex pheromones control mating behaviour (Cowan & Atema 1990). In the blue crab Callinectes sapidus, Gleeson (1980Gleeson ( , 1982Gleeson ( , 1991 and colleagues (Gleeson et al. 1984) described the presence of 3 pheromones in female urine that were attractive to males. Although some progress has been made in the purification of the latter (Gleeson et al. 1984), no sex pheromone has been characterised.The female sex pheromone is one of only a few crustacean pheromones so far demonstrat...

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“…On the other hand, Christofferson (1978) found that females of the portunid crab Portunus sanguinolentus do not release sex pheromones while guarded. There are opposing views of whether or not females release sex pheromones while they are guarded.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Indirect female choice mediated by sex pheromones in the hermit crab Pagurus filholi

Okamura

Goshima

2009

J Ethol

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Males of the hermit crab Pagurus filholi perform precopulatory guarding behavior, and solitary males often show aggressive behavior to take away guarded females. Males behave coercively while guarding females, so direct mate choice by females seems difficult in such a situation. By performing several experiments we examined possible indirect female choice of hermit crab. Males were attached to a shell by their left cheliped to look like guarding pairs (fake guarding pairs). The shells were filled with cotton containing either seawater or pheromone water. The fake guarding pair with only seawater caused malemale combat in 60% of trials whereas with pheromone water combats occurred in 88% of trials. Mean duration of male-male combat was significantly longer in trials with drops of seawater containing pheromones than in those without pheromones. These results suggest guarding pairs themselves cause male-male combat by visual stimulation, that female sex pheromones have further significant function in the recognition of guarding pairs and intensification of male-male combat, and that females release sex pheromones while they are guarded. As a result of the combat, the larger male ended up guarding a female. This strongly suggests that females choose males indirectly by exploiting male-male competition induced by sex pheromones under male coercive behavior.

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Evidence for the controlled release of a crustacean sex pheromone

Cited by 32 publications

References 10 publications

Identification of a female sex pheromone in Carcinus maenas

Identification of a female sex pheromone in Carcinus maenas

Novel behavioural assay and partial purification of a female-derived sex pheromone in Carcinus maenas

Indirect female choice mediated by sex pheromones in the hermit crab Pagurus filholi

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