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Nassariid whelks hitch-hiking on Cancer pagurus: phoresis, commensalism or fouling?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2015

John Davenport ,
Sheila McCullough ,
Robert W. Thomas Open the ORCID record for Robert W. Thomas [Opens in a new window] ,
Luke Harman  and
Rob McAllen
John Davenport*
Affiliation:
School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, North Mall Campus, Distillery Fields, Cork, Ireland
Sheila McCullough
Affiliation:
School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, North Mall Campus, Distillery Fields, Cork, Ireland
Robert W. Thomas
Affiliation:
School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, North Mall Campus, Distillery Fields, Cork, Ireland British Oceanographic Data Centre, National Oceanography Centre, Joseph Proudman Building, 6 Brownlow Street, Liverpool, UK
Luke Harman
Affiliation:
School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, North Mall Campus, Distillery Fields, Cork, Ireland
Rob McAllen
Affiliation:
School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, North Mall Campus, Distillery Fields, Cork, Ireland
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: J. Davenport, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, North Mall Campus, Distillery Fields, Cork, Ireland email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The behavioural responses of scavenging animals to mackerel (Scomber scombrus) baits were studied by short-term video photography in shallow water (16–18 m depth) at Lough Hyne, Ireland. Earliest arrivals (after seconds/minutes) at baits were small fish or swimming crabs (Liocarcinus depurator), followed by crawling portunid crabs. After tens of minutes, juvenile whelks 2–4 mm shell length (Nassarius reticulatus and/or Nassarius incrassatus) sometimes arrived to feed. They moved at a mean speed of 1.24 (SD 0.392) mm s−1. After tens of minutes or hours, single large scavengers arrived, consuming most of the bait; the most common of these were Cancer pagurus that fed in a wasteful fashion, generating large quantities of mackerel scraps. Cancer pagurus moved into view at a mean speed of 48.7 (SD 16.9) mm s−1(39 times the whelk speed). A single individual of C. pagurus (197 mm carapace width) arrived at a bait carrying 24 juvenile whelks on the dorsal surface of its carapace. No whelks were present on walking legs or chelipeds. The crab fed for 6.8 min and 3 whelks fell off before it departed. The nature of this crab/whelk association is discussed; on balance it appears that it is a previously unreported example of phoresy/phoresis. No whelks were observed being carried by other edible crabs or upon large numbers of scavenging portunid crabs.

Keywords

phoresy/phoresiscommensalismfoulingwhelksNassariusCancer pagurushitch-hiking
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 8 , 2015 , e146
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2015 

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