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Epibiotic community of the horseshoe crab Tachypleus gigas

DRS at CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography

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Title Epibiotic community of the horseshoe crab Tachypleus gigas
 
Creator Patil, J.S.
Anil, A.C.
 
Subject epibionts
epibiosis
breeding
migrations
reproductive behaviour
differential distribuion
Tachypleus gigas
Navicula
Skeletonema
Nitzschia
 
Description Horseshoe crabs act as moving substrata for simple to complex communities of small marine organisms. Amplexed adult pairs migrate for breeding once every 2 weeks from deep waters towards nearshore waters during highest high tide. Female horseshoe crabs bury themselves to the level of the lateral eyes to deposit eggs while the male crabs fertilize them. Subsequently eggs are buried by the female. Tachypleus gigas (Muller) is the most abundant horseshoe crab species above available along the Orissa coast (India). Adults reach terminal anecdysis once sexually mature and live with thir carapace for 4 to 9 years. In spite of this, epibiosis is limited. In the current investigation, differnces in the epibiotic community (diatoms and macro-epibionts) present on horseshoe crabs, according to gender, were evaluated, and the macro-epibiont population from different regions of the carapace was mapped. In general, female horseshoe crabs harbored fewer epibionts than the males. Among the diatoms, Navicula spp., Nitzschia spp. and Skeletonema sp. were dominant in both sexes. Mapping of the macroepibionts from different regions of the carapace revealed differential distribution in males and females. Such differentiated distribution of the macro-epibionts can be related to factors such as changing habitat by the horseshoe crabs during breeding, mechanical abrasion and surface availability during mating and nesting periods, requirements of epizootic larvae and surface properties of the carapace (wettability and roughness). In the case of females, mechanical abrasion and surface availability played an important role in the epibiotic community structure and distribution patterns. The surface wettability measurements indicated male carapace to be slightly more hydrophobic than the female carapace. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the male carapace was comparatively rough compared to the smooth carapace of females. A comparison of surface properties of the carapace indicated that the male carapace is more conducive for epibiosis
 
Date 2009-01-09T07:48:54Z
2009-01-09T07:48:54Z
2000
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Marine Biology, Vol.136; 699-713p.
http://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/1623
 
Language en
 
Rights Copyright [2000]. All efforts have been made to respect the copyright to the best of our knowledge. Inadvertent omissions, if brought to our notice, stand for correction and withdrawal of document from this repository.
 
Publisher Springer