A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE GILL AREA OF CRABS

Open Access

1 February 1957

journal article
research article
Published by University of Chicago Press in The Biological Bulletin

Vol. 112 (1) , 34-42
https://doi.org/10.2307/1538877

Abstract

A study of the gill areas of 16 spp. of brachyuran crabs from 6 families found in the Beaufort, N. Carolina area, and representing land, inter-tidal and wholly aquatic habitats, reveals that the size of the gill area is correlated with both habitat and metabolic activity. There is a tendency toward reduction in gill area per unit of weight in going from wholly aquatic to intertidal to land species; and active fast moving protunids have greater gill area than do sluggish bottom-dwelling species. Both gill area and number of gill platelets per unit of weight, relatively high in very young crabs, decrease as the crabs grow older. Apparent sexual dimorphism in gill area is a function of weight differences between the sexes.

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE GILL AREA OF MARINE FISHES
The Biological Bulletin, 1954