Factors limiting distribution and activity patterns of the soldier crab Dotilla myctiroides in Phuket, South Thailand |
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Authors: | C Bradshaw T P Scoffin |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JW, Scotland, GB |
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Abstract: | This study was carried out between January and March 1995 on the intertidal sand flats of Tang Khen Bay, Phuket, South Thailand,
where the soldier crab Dotilla myctiroides (H. Milne-Edwards) occurs in densities of up to 120 m−2. In this bay, long, ribbon-like sand waves (wavelength 40 m, height 0.4 m) are interspersed with shallow pools, running approximately
parallel to the shore. During daylight low-tides, exposure of the sand waves is followed 15 to 20 min later by the emergence
of the crabs which have been buried under the sediment surface during high tide. Their subsequent burrowing and feeding activity
results in the production of large numbers of sand pellets on the sediment surface. Most crabs retreat down their burrows,
and some also plug the burrow entrance, prior to being covered by the incoming tide. The crab burrows have a distinct distribution
on the sand waves. Burrows are most dense at the top of each sand wave, and a band of unburrowed sediment adjoins the adjacent
tidal pools. Crabs are most abundant between mean high-water neap-tide level and mean low-water neap-tide level, where the
median particle size of the surface sediment is ∼2 . Measurements of water-table depth below the sand waves and the exposure
time of the sediment indicated that, where sediment size is suitable, the main factor controlling crab distribution is the
duration of daytime exposure. This observation is in contrast to those of many previous studies, which have suggested that
water-table height and sediment drainage are the main factors controlling the distribution of D. myctiroides.
Received: 14 January 1998 / Accepted: 6 May 1999 |
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