What motivates hermit crabs to abandon trapped shells? Assessing the influence of shell value, olfactory attractants, and previous experience

Gorman, Daniel; Barros, Filipe Nunes; Turra, Alexander

doi:10.1007/s10750-014-2047-6

Cited by 15 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…When searching for the best fitting shell, hermit crabs use different cues, such as past experiences the animals had with other shells, architecture in terms of spires, weight, condition, strength and size of the shells (Jackson & Elwood, 1989; Turra & Leite, 2003; Rotjan et al ., 2004; Gorman et al ., 2015; Ragagnin et al ., 2016), as well as trying to determine whether heavier shells would cause changes in their energy expense (Osorno et al ., 2005). These cues help the animals choose shells that provide adequate protection and are light enough, yet bulky, to minimize energy expenditure during routine activities (Osorno et al ., 1998; Ragagnin et al ., 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Movement pattern and population structure ofClibanarius antillensisStimpson, 1859 in south Brazil

Silva

Santos²,

Gryszyszyn

et al. 2022

J. Mar. Biol. Ass.

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Hermit crabs have soft abdomens and therefore must use empty gastropod shells as protection. Shell choices do not occur at random, and the animals often occupy shells with the best fit among the available ones. To live in intertidal and sublittoral zones, regions subjected to daily variations in abiotic factors, hermit crabs present a locomotory circadian rhythm. Clibanarius antillensis has been the object of several studies in Brazil's south-east, so this study was aimed at describing its population in the south of Brazil and its movement activity under laboratory conditions during night-time and daytime, while using two different shells. The animals were sampled from the Sepultura and Lagoinha beaches, in the state of Santa Catarina through free diving. Sex ratio was skewed for males, with ovigerous females present during the whole year but with a spring peak. Males were more abundant than females, ovigerous females and intersex individuals, being predominant in all size-classes analysed. The hermit crabs occupied mainly two gastropod shells: Cerithium atratum and Agathistoma viridulum, and ovigerous females used only the first. Clibanarius antillensis showed nocturnal activity and the animals using C. atratum shells were more active than those using A. viridulum. Cerithium atratum shells are lighter and less bulky than A. viridulum, implying that there might be a tradeoff in which the hermit crabs use lighter shells, that provide less protection in order to expend less energy and be more active.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(2000) and Turra & Leite (2002) studying its patterns of shell utilization and selection, and Gorman et al . (2015) evaluating its tendencies to abandon or not, shells under different environmental stimuli. Chiussi et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Movement pattern and population structure ofClibanarius antillensisStimpson, 1859 in south Brazil

Silva

Santos²,

Gryszyszyn

et al. 2022

J. Mar. Biol. Ass.

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show abstract

“…The association between hermit crabs and gastropod shells is not random, as animals are influenced by the availability of adequate empty shells (Abrams, 1980; da Silva et al., 2019) and often assess the shells characteristic (i.e., presence/absence of epibionts, weight, size, general condition) to choose the ones with the best fit (Angel, 2000; Buckley & Ebersole, 1994; Gorman et al., 2015; Osorno et al., 1998; Ragagnin et al., 2016; Turra & Leite, 2003). Hermit crabs strategies to acquire new shells from others hermit crab occur mainly by contests over gastropod shells (with an “attacker” and a “defender”) (Briffa & Elwood, 2001; Lane & Briffa, 2020) and also interacting among themselves to exchange resources, through a clustering behavior known as the “shell exchange market” theory (Gherardi & Vannini, 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphometric traits as drivers for module structures and species specialization: a study about the hermit crab–gastropod networks from three different regions on the Brazilian coast

et al. 2021

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The relationship between hermit crabs (Paguroidea) and gastropod shells has attracted the attention of researchers toward a network approach. These networks seem to present recurrent patterns that are often modular, i.e., a pattern in which the network can be divided into compartments that represent species interacting more with species belonging to its own compartment than with species composing another compartment. A modular interaction network occurs when species tend to interact more intensively within subsets of species (modules) than with species outside of it. Since modularity is a characteristic in which different hermit crabs interact with different sub‐sets of shells, we proposed that these patterns should be a reflection of different morphometric traits, as well as that species specialization (measure which indicates if a given species is specialist or generalist in resource use) could be related to such traits. Three different hermit crab–shell networks in which the modularity and species specialization have already been determined were chosen. The animals were sampled in three different regions with the same sampling effort in the same type of substrate. After sampling, the animals were taken to the laboratory where they were identified and measured. A PERMANOVA was used for the hermit crab morphometric traits from each region using each compartment as grouping variable. In order to test if morphometric traits influence species specialization (d′), linear mixed models were created and selected through Akaike's Information Criterion. Our data show that hermit crabs presented different morphometric traits in each module they occupied. Also, d′ was influenced by morphometric traits; thus, hermit crabs with different sizes need different types of shells, which reflect in different specialization levels.

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“…The evolutionary success of hermit crabs is closely linked to their habit of occupying empty gastropod shells, which need to be constantly upgraded to larger sizes as individuals’ grow 1 . Several parameters are known to influence the shell selection behavior of hermit crabs, including shell weight 2 , morphology 3 , density 4 and internal volume 5 , 6 . Maintaining sufficient shell volume is essential; not only to permit growth, but also to provide sufficient refuge from predation 7 , desiccation, and thermal and osmotic stress 8 , 9 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gastropod shell size and architecture influence the applicability of methods used to estimate internal volume

Ragagnin

Gorman

McCarthy

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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Obtaining accurate and reproducible estimates of internal shell volume is a vital requirement for studies into the ecology of a range of shell-occupying organisms, including hermit crabs. Shell internal volume is usually estimated by filling the shell cavity with water or sand, however, there has been no systematic assessment of the reliability of these methods and moreover no comparison with modern alternatives, e.g., computed tomography (CT). This study undertakes the first assessment of the measurement reproducibility of three contrasting approaches across a spectrum of shell architectures and sizes. While our results suggested a certain level of variability inherent for all methods, we conclude that a single measure using sand/water is likely to be sufficient for the majority of studies. However, care must be taken as precision may decline with increasing shell size and structural complexity. CT provided less variation between repeat measures but volume estimates were consistently lower compared to sand/water and will need methodological improvements before it can be used as an alternative. CT indicated volume may be also underestimated using sand/water due to the presence of air spaces visible in filled shells scanned by CT. Lastly, we encourage authors to clearly describe how volume estimates were obtained.

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What motivates hermit crabs to abandon trapped shells? Assessing the influence of shell value, olfactory attractants, and previous experience

Cited by 15 publications

References 68 publications

Movement pattern and population structure ofClibanarius antillensisStimpson, 1859 in south Brazil

Movement pattern and population structure ofClibanarius antillensisStimpson, 1859 in south Brazil

Morphometric traits as drivers for module structures and species specialization: a study about the hermit crab–gastropod networks from three different regions on the Brazilian coast

Gastropod shell size and architecture influence the applicability of methods used to estimate internal volume

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