Mating system

Mating games squid play

In the summer of 1998 I began a long-term field research project in Bonaire to evaluate the skin colours and patterns of Sepioteuthis sepiodea to uderstand their communication...

A school of approximately 8 squid was located for intense observation. The location was sheltered from trade wnds and surf, but there was some surge....

Saddle (by the female) and struipe (by the male) were short (5s or less) signals, apparantly the first and moderate signs of sexual interest. In saddle the female paled...

Date
1998
Data type
Other resources
Geographic location
Bonaire
Author

Host species, range extensions, and an observation of the mating system of Atlantic shallow-water gall crabs (Decapoda: Cryptochiridae)

Coral-associated invertebrates dominate the biodiversity of coral reefs. Some of the associations involving symbiotic invertebrates remain unknown or little studied. This holds true even for relatively wellstudied coral reefs, like those in the Caribbean Sea. Coral gall crabs (Cryptochiridae), obligate symbionts of stony corals, form a much-overlooked component of coral reef communities. Most recent studies on the Atlantic members of Cryptochiridae have been conducted off Brazil and little recent data have become available from the Caribbean region. During fieldwork off Curaçao (southern Caribbean Sea), eight new host coral species, belonging to four coral families, were recorded for three cryptochirid species. Kroppcarcinus siderastreicola Badaro, Neves, Castro and Johnsson, 2012, previously only known from Brazil, and Opecarcinus hypostegus (Shaw and Hopkins, 1977) are new additions to the fauna of Curaçao. Besides the new hosts and geographic range extensions, a free-living male Troglocarcinus corallicola Verrill, 1908 was observed visiting a female of the same species lodged in her gall in an Orbicella annularis (Ellis and Solander, 1786) colony. This is the first photodocumented record of the “visiting” mating system in Cryptochiridae.

Date
2014
Data type
Scientific article
Theme
Research and monitoring
Geographic location
Curacao