Libinia dubia

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Libinia dubia
Libinia dubia (YPM IZ 030749).jpeg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Brachyura
Family: Epialtidae
Genus: Libinia
Species:
L. dubia
Binomial name
Libinia dubia

Libinia dubia, the longnose spider crab, is a species of crab in the family Epialtidae. It is found in shallow waters on the eastern coast of North America.

Contents

Description

The carapace of the longnose spider crab is nearly circular in outline. The shell grows to an average diameter of 6 to 10 centimetres (2.4 to 3.9 in) with the males being larger than the females. There are about six spiny protuberances on each edge of the shell and another six down the midline. The upper surface is covered with short setae (bristles) which are hooked and resemble velcro. To these the crab sticks pieces of seaweed and other organisms as camouflage. [3] There are two small stalked eyes and between these the carapace extends forward in a forked rostrum. There are five pairs of long, thin, jointed walking legs. The front pair end in rather small pincers and the terminal joint of the others legs is a curved claw. The longnose spider crab may be confused with the portly spider crab, Libinia emarginata , but that species usually has nine spines on the margin at each side of the shell. [3]

Distribution

The longnose spider crab is found on the eastern seaboard of the United States at depths down to about 50 metres (160 ft). The range is from Cape Cod to southern Texas, including Cuba and the Bahamas. In the Indian River Lagoon, adults are found on sandy bottoms and juveniles in seagrass meadows. In the late 1900s this crab was identified off the coast of Tunisia, but by what means it had managed to cross the Atlantic Ocean is unclear. [4]

Reproduction

When breeding, the male transfers bundles of sperm called spermatophores to the female. Fertilisation is internal and afterwards the female broods the eggs under her abdomen until they hatch. The larvae then become part of the zooplankton, having two zoeal stages and one megalopal or post-larval stage. After that the larvae settle on the sea bed and undergo metamorphosis into juvenile crabs. [3]

Ecology

The longnose spider crab is a scavenger and detritivore. In seagrass meadows it eats the seaweeds that grow there. It is eaten by predatory fish such as the pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides), the gag grouper (Mycteroperca microlepis) and the oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau). It attempts to avoid being eaten by sticking unpalatable seaweeds and invertebrates onto its carapace. [3] These include the brown alga, Dictyota menstrualis and the sun sponge ( Hymeniacidon heliophila ). Along the East Coast of the US, where Dictyota menstrualis is present, these crabs recognize and preferentially select this chemically noxious algae. However, in places where the D. menstrualis is absent, L. dubia has an alternative camouflage method and does not appear to recognize the D. menstrualis. [5] As it grows larger it no longer needs to disguise itself in this way because its shell is too large for the predators to ingest. [3] It is sometimes associated with the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta), living as an epibiont on its carapace. [6]

Longnose spider crabs are often found living inside the bells of cannonball jellies, Stomolophus meleagris . [3] It is thought they gain access as juveniles when the jellyfish happens to drift near the seabed or possibly they may metamorphosise from larvae directly inside the bell. It may be a symbiotic relationship with the crabs gaining protection from predators and obtaining food from their hosts but any benefit to the jellyfish is unclear, especially as its tissues may be nibbled. [7]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Grapsus grapsus</i> Species of crab

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<i>Metacarcinus gracilis</i> Species of crab

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<i>Notomithrax ursus</i> Species of crab

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decorator crab</span> Self-camouflaging animals

Decorator crabs are crabs of several different species, belonging to the superfamily Majoidea, that use materials from their environment to hide from, or ward off, predators. They decorate themselves by sticking mostly sedentary animals and plants to their bodies as camouflage, or if the attached organisms are noxious, to ward off predators through aposematism.

<i>Xantho poressa</i> Species of crab

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<i>Amarinus lacustris</i> Species of crab

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<i>Guinotellus</i> Genus of crabs

Guinotellus melvillensis is a species of crabs in the family Xanthidae, the only species in the genus Guinotellus. It is a benthic crab with an ovate carapace within the subfamily Euxanthinae.

<i>Oregonia gracilis</i> Species of crab

Oregonia gracilis, commonly known as the graceful decorator crab, is a species of crab belonging to the family Oregoniidae. Like other decorator crabs it habitually attaches other organisms to its back. The sessile organisms are attached to hooked setae that act as a sort of velcro attachment. This decoration provides visual and chemical camouflage thus reducing predation risk. Pacific halibut are a major predator of O. gracilis. Other predators include octopus and sea otters. The main food source of O. gracilis is floating kelp and algae that they capture utilizing a waiting strategy in order to maintain cryptosis.

Libinia ferreirae is a species of tropical spider crab in the family Epialtidae. It is found on the seabed in shallow waters off the Atlantic coast of South America.

<i>Planes minutus</i> Species of crab

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<i>Portunus sayi</i> Species of crab

Portunus sayi, the sargassum swimming crab, is a species of pelagic crab in the family Portunidae. It is found in the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea where it makes its home among floating mats of Sargassum seaweed. It was named in honour of the American naturalist Thomas Say.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden ghost crab</span> Species of crustacean

Ocypode convexa, commonly known as the golden ghost crab, or alternatively the western ghost crab or yellow ghost crab, is a species of ghost crabs endemic to the coast of Western Australia, from Broome to Perth. They are relatively large ghost crabs, with a carapace growing up to 45 mm (1.8 in) long and 52 mm (2.0 in) wide. They are easily recognisable by their golden yellow colouration. Like other ghost crabs they have box-like bodies with unequally sized claws. They also have large eyestalks with the cornea occupying most of the bottom part.

<i>Hyastenus hilgendorfi</i> Species of crab

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<i>Paguristes eremita</i> Species of crustacean

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<i>Libinia spinosa</i> Species of crustacean

Libinia spinosa is a majoid crab found in mud and sand bottoms of the Southwestern Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is a generalist feeder on organisms such as algae, sponges, cnidarians, mollusks, polychaetes, crustaceans, and small fish. It commonly engages in a symbiotic relationship with the medusa Lychnorhiza lucerna.

References

  1. Peter Davie & Michael Türkay (2012). "Libinia dubia H. Milne Edwards, 1834". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved March 27, 2012.
  2. Peter K. L. Ng; Danièle Guinot; Peter J. F. Davie (2008). "Systema Brachyurorum: Part I. An annotated checklist of extant Brachyuran crabs of the world" (PDF). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology . 17: 1–286. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-06.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Libinia dubia: Longnose spider crab". Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce. Retrieved March 27, 2012.
  4. Rudi Enzenross; Luzinda Enzenross (2000). "Nichtmediterrane Crustacea-Arten in tunesischen Gewässern (Decapoda, Macrura und Brachyura)" [Non-Mediterranean crustaceans in Tunisian waters (Decapoda, Macrura and Brachyura)]. Crustaceana (in German). 73 (2): 187–195. doi:10.1163/156854000504255. JSTOR   20106264.
  5. Stachowicz, John; Hay, Mark (1 July 2000). "Geographic variation in camouflage specialization by a decorator crab" (PDF). American Naturalist. 156 (1): 59–71. doi:10.1086/303366.
  6. Michael G. Frick; Kristina L. Williams; Emily J. Markesteyn; Joseph B. Pfaller; Rebecca E. Frick (2004). "New records and observations of epibionts from loggerhead sea turtles". Southeastern Naturalist . 3 (4): 613–620. doi:10.1656/1528-7092(2004)003[0613:nraooe]2.0.co;2. JSTOR   3878022.
  7. Richard Jachowski (1963). "Observations on the moon jelly, Aurelia aurita, and the spider crab, Libinia dubia". Chesapeake Science . 4 (4): 195. doi:10.2307/1351361.