Register      Login
Marine and Freshwater Research Marine and Freshwater Research Society
Advances in the aquatic sciences
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > MF > MF06176
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 58(8)

Adaptive traits in ecology, reproduction and early life history of Sesarma meridies, an endemic stream crab from Jamaica

Klaus Anger A C , Gabriela Torres A B and Uwe Nettelmann A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Biologische Anstalt Helgoland, Stiftung Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung, 27498 Helgoland, Germany.

B Carl-von-Ossietzky-Universität, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany.

C Corresponding author. Email: Klaus.Anger@AWI.de

Marine and Freshwater Research 58(8) 743-755 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF06176
Submitted: 25 September 2006  Accepted: 4 July 2007   Published: 20 August 2007

Abstract

The endemic Jamaican freshwater crab Sesarma meridies lives in shady microhabitats on river banks, where temperature and pH are lower and ion concentrations higher than in mid-stream water. Ovigerous females were found to release up to 140 yolk-rich larvae (hatching period: 1 week; >90% at night). Larval development comprised two fully lecithotrophic zoeal stages and a feeding megalopa, which was also able to develop without food (facultative lecithotrophy). After metamorphosis in complete absence of food, juvenile crabs showed reduced body size, delayed moulting, and enhanced mortality. Endotrophic development was fuelled by internal lipid reserves; proteins were conserved as structural components of tissues and organs. Fed megalopae enhanced their protein content rather than re-stocking previously lost lipid reserves. Ecdysial biomass (CHN) losses were very low (zoeal stages: 1–2%; megalopa: 3–7%), showing an energy-saving production of thin exuviae. An extended hatching period may reduce intraspecific competition or cannibalism among juveniles; nocturnal hatching should reduce the predation on larvae. Large egg size, enhanced yolk reserves, an extended embryonic development (7 weeks at 24°C; implying a prolonged period of brood care), abbreviated and partially food-independent larval development, and reduced exuvial losses are considered as life-history adaptations to unpredictable planktonic food availability in the breeding habitat.

Additional keywords: decapod crustaceans, larval development, lecithotrophy, limnic, radiation.


Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Michelina, Tanja, and three Jamaicans for help in the collection of crabs, to Karin Bickmeyer for CHN analyses, the AWI for travelling funds, and the Director and staff of the DBML for hospitality during visits to Jamaica. GT acknowledges a PhD grant from Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD, Bonn, Germany).


References

Adamczewska, A. M. , and Morris, S. (2000). Locomotion, respiratory physiology, and energetics of amphibious and terrestrial crabs. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 73, 706–725.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | Anger K. (2001). ‘The Biology of Decapod Crustacean Larvae.’ Crustacean Issues 14. (Balkema: Lisse.)

Anger, K. (2005). The early life history of Sesarma fossarum, an endemic freshwater crab from Jamaica. Invertebrate Reproduction & Development 47, 63–72.
Greenaway P. (1999). Physiological diversity and the colonization of land. In ‘Crustaceans and the Biodiversity Crisis’. (Eds F. R. Schram and J. C. von Vaupel Klein.) pp. 823–842. (Brill: Leiden.)

Hartnoll, R. G. (1964). The freshwater grapsid crabs of Jamaica. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London 175, 145–169.
Hartnoll R. G., (1985). Growth, sexual maturity and reproductive output. In ‘Factors in Adult Growth’. Crustacean Issues 3. (Ed. A. M. Wenner.) pp. 101–128. (Balkema: Rotterdam.)

Hartnoll, R. G. (2001). Growth in Crustacea – twenty years on. Hydrobiologia 449, 111–122.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Harvey P. H., and Pagel M. D. (1991). ‘The Comparative Method in Evolutionary Biology.’ (Oxford University Press: Oxford.)

Havenhand J. N. (1995). Evolutionary ecology of larval types. In ‘Ecology of Marine Invertebrate Larvae’. (Ed. L. R. McEdward.) pp. 79–122. (CRC Press: Boca Raton.)

Holdich D. M. (2001). ‘Biology of Freshwater Crayfish.’ (Blackwell: Oxford.)

Hossfeld, U. , and Olsson, L. (2003). The road from Haeckel: The Jena tradition in evolutionary morphology and the origins of “Evo-Devo”. Biology and Philosophy 18, 285–307.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Rabalais N. N., and Gore R. H. (1985). Abbreviated development in Decapods. In ‘Larval Growth’. Crustacean Issues 2. (Ed. A. M. Wenner.) pp. 67–126. (Balkema: Rotterdam.)

Reimer, J. , Schubart, C. D. , and Diesel, R. (1998). Description of a new freshwater crab of the genus Sesarma Say, 1817 (Brachyura, Grapsidae, Sesarminae) from Western Jamaica. Crustaceana 71, 185–196.
Scholtz G. (2003). ‘Evolutionary Developmental Biology of Crustacea.’ Crustacean Issues 15. (Balkema: Leiden.)

Schubart, C. D. , and Diesel, R. (1999). Osmoregulation and the transition from marine to freshwater and terrestrial life: a comparative study of Jamaican crabs of the genus Sesarma. Archiv fuer Hydrobiologie 145, 331–347.
Sokal R. R., and Rohlf F. J. (1995). ‘Biometry. The Principles and Practice of Statistics in Biological Research.’ (Freeman: San Francisco.)

Thatje, S. , Calcagno, J. A. , Lovrich, G. A. , Sartoris, F. J. , and Anger, K. (2003). Extended hatching periods in the subantarctic lithodid crabs Lithodes santolla and Paralomis granulosa (Crustacea: Decapoda: Lithodidae). Helgoland Marine Research 57, 110–113.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Thatje, S. , Lovrich, G. A. , and Anger, K. (2004). Egg production, hatching rates, and abbreviated larval development of Campylonotus vagans Bate, 1888 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea), in subantarctic waters. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 301, 15–27.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Torres, G. , Charmantier-Daures, M. , Chifflet, S. , and Anger, K. (2007a). Effects of long-term exposure to different salinities on the location and activity of Na+–K+-ATPase in the gills of juvenile mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology. A: Comparative Physiology 147, 460–465.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Torres, G. , Giménez, L. , and Anger, K. (2007b). Effects of osmotic stress on crustacean larval growth and protein and lipid levels are related to life-histories: the genus Armases as a model. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology. B: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 148, 117–224.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Zöllner, N. , and Kirsch, K. (1962). Über die quantitative Bestimmung von Lipoiden (Mikromethode) mittels der vielen natürlichen Lipoiden (allen bekannten Plasmalipoiden) gemeinsamen Sulfophosphovanillin-Reaktion. Zeitschrift fur die Gesamte Experimentelle Medizin Einschliesslich Experimentelle Chirurgie 135, 545–561.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |