The development of acoustic display in the fiddler crabUca pugilator, and its hybrids withU. panacea

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Abstract
Male fiddler crabs (Uca pugilator) court females at night by acoustic signals. Young males, reared to maturity in the laboratory, at first produce “immature” abbreviated sounds, but within several weeks the signals more closely resemble those of older crabs. Hybrids between this species and U. panacea produce sounds which in some respects are intermediate, while in others are either similar to or different from either parental species. The results indicate that display development does not depend upon contact with experienced individuals and that species differences are, in part, heritable.