New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts
BEHAVIOUR OF SOME NEW ZEALAND SEA ANEMONES AND THEIR MOLLUSCAN AND CRUSTACEAN HOSTS
Cadet Hand
Bodega Marine Laboratory, P.O- Box 247, -Bodega Bay, California 94923, U.S.A.
and Department of Zoology, University of California, Berkeley
Abstract
The sea anemones
Calliactis conchicola Parry, 1952 and
Paracalliactis rosea Hand, 1975, which live associated with gastropods, hermit crabs, and true crabs, possess mounting responses similar to those known for several species of
Calliactis. In some areas of New Zealand
Calliactis conchicola occurs most abundantly on living gastropods and in others on gastropod shells occupied by hermit crabs. No behaviour by either the gastropod or the hermit crabs was observed which explains this differential distribution. One hermit crab stimulates
Paracalliactis rosea to mount its shell by a regular tapping of the anemone with its chelae or dactyls, but ignores
Calliactis conchicola. Several other hermit crabs, which may be found carrying these anemones, do not stimulate them to mount. The spider crab
Leptomithrax longipes may be found in nature carrying specimens of four kinds of anemones:
Calliactis conchicola, Paracalliactis rosea, Bunodactis chrysobathys, and
Phellia aucklandica. This crab prises these anemones from most substrates with its chelae, cleans them with its mouth parts, and places them on its legs and carapace with its chelae. From observation,
Calliactis conchicola apparently protects this crab from octopus predatiori, but not from other predators such as small sharks. Though associations of anemones with hermit crabs and other invertebrates are usually considered to be commensal, it seems likely that these associations may be mutualistic.
N.Z. Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 9 (4) : 509-27
(Received 29 August 1974; revision received 14 April 1975)
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1523K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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