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Rhythms of larval release in the shore crab Carcinus maenas (Decapoda: Brachyura)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2009

Chaoshu Zeng  and
Ernest Naylor
Chaoshu Zeng
Affiliation:
School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Menai Bridge, Gwynedd, LL59 5EY
Ernest Naylor
Affiliation:
School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Menai Bridge, Gwynedd, LL59 5EY
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Abstract

The process of larval release in field collected ovigerous Carcinus maenas was monitored in the laboratory using a time-lapse video recorder. Under constant light (L:L) and simulated natural light/dark cycles (L:D), larval release normally occurred in two or more main events at about daily and/or tidal intervals. Since larval release in the crab was expressed with circadian and circatidal periodicity in continuous light and in the absence of tidal cues, it suggests involvement of endogenous timing. Crabs showing daily larval release rhythms released larvae at various times of the day in L:L. In contrast, under simulated L:D cycles, 37 out of 38 crabs released larvae during the dark phase, suggesting nocturnal release of larvae in the crab under natural conditions. Larval release from freshly collected females which shed larvae within two days of collection occurred predominantly around the times of expected nocturnal high tide. When both local semidiurnal high tides occurred in daylight during long summer days, larval release appeared to start 2–3 h earlier than the expected morning high tide, before the onset of daylight. Larval release at the time around high tide, linked to a previously described larval tidal migration rhythm of ebb-phased upward swimming, is likely to have been selected for by enhancing the larval offshore dispersal process. Nocturnal larval release is probably adaptive in the avoidance of visual predators by ovigerous females as they release larvae.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 77 , Issue 2 , May 1997 , pp. 451 - 461
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1997

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