Adaptive Significance of Reproductive Cycles in the Fiddler Crab Uca pugilator : A Hypothesis
- 27 January 1978
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 199 (4327) , 453-455
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.199.4327.453
Abstract
Semimonthly peaks in courtship behavior of male crabs coincide with peaks in the temporal distribution of receptive females. Females mate once each month, 4 to 5 days before one of the semimonthly spring tides. The relation of the time of reproduction to tide cycles may be an adaptation to increase to a maximum the probability that the final stage of the planktonic larvae will be transported by tidal currents to substrates suitable for adults.This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- The role of pelagic larvae in recruitment to populations of adult decapod crustaceans in the York River estuary and adjacent lower Chesapeake Bay, VirginiaEstuarine and Coastal Marine Science, 1975
- Shelter Building as a Means of Reducing Territory Size in the Fiddler Crab, Uca terpsichores (Crustacea: Ocypodidae)The American Midland Naturalist, 1974
- Distribution and Abundance of Decapod Crustacean Larvae in the York River Estuary and Adjacent Lower Cheaspeake Bay, Virginia, 1968-1969Chesapeake Science, 1973
- Freilandstudien zur sexual und Fortpflanzungs-biologie von Uca tangeri in AndalusienZoomorphology, 1962