Coenobita scaevola explained

Coenobita scaevola is a species of terrestrial hermit crab from the western Indian Ocean and Red Sea.

Distribution

Coenobita scaevola lives around parts of the Indian Ocean, including the Gulf of Aden and the coasts of Somalia and Pakistan.[1] Although the hermit crabs of the Red Sea are poorly studied,[2] they include C. scaevola as the region's only species of terrestrial hermit crab.[1]

Taxonomy

Coenobita scaevola was first described in 1775 by Peter Forsskål,[3] under the name Cancer scaevola, with a type locality of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.[4]

Life cycle

Reproduction takes place during the hottest months of the year, when temperatures are 24C38C. In common with other hermit crabs, the young animals of Coenobita scaevola pass through a number of larval phases,[5] before reaching the glaucothoe and then the juvenile stage. C.  scaevola has the greatest number of zoeal phases of any Coenobita species (seven), and they last longer than in any other Coenobita species, lasting a total of 54–80 days.

Ecology

Coenobita scaevola can survive in arid conditions, such as those on the Sinai Peninsula, but only close to the shore, to which it must return regularly to replenish the water stored in its shell for respiration.[1] [6] C. scaevola rests in burrows or among coastal vegetation during the heat of the day, and emerges at night to feed.[6] Although the air temperature outside the burrows can reach 33C during the day, at a depth of 10cm (00inches), the temperature does not exceed 28C.[7]

Most adults up to a carapace length of 7.5mm occupy a Nerita undata shell. Larger individuals choose Turbo radiatus, Polinices milanstomus and Monodonta canalifera, while small individuals (below 3mm) occupy shells of Planaxis sulcatus and Nassarius arcularia.[8]

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Book: Warren W. Burggren . Brian Robert McMahon . 1988 . Biology of the Land Crabs . . 9780521306904 . Evolution, systematics, and geographical distribution . 6–54 . Richard G. Hartnoll.
  2. Khaleid F. Abd El-Wakeil . Elham S. Ahme . Ahmad H. Obuid-Allah . Nasser A. El-Shimy . 2009 . Hermit crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura) inhabiting the intertidal and shallow subtidal region of Red Sea coast of Egypt . . 2213 . 57–63 . 10.11646/zootaxa.2213.1.3 . PDF excerpt.
  3. Patsy McLaughlin . 2010 . Coenobita scaevola (Forskål, 1775) . Paguroidea . 208658 . January 5, 2012.
  4. Book: Peter Forsskål . Peter Forsskål . 1775 . Descriptiones animalium avium, amphibiorum, piscium, insectorum, vermium . Möller . Copenhagen . Latin . 93 . Cancer.
  5. . 1989 . Larval development of the land hermit crab Coenobita scaevola (Forskål, 1775) (Crustacea: Anomura: Coenobitidae) reared in the laboratory . . 23 . 1 . 111–128 . 10.1080/00222938900770071. 1989JNatH..23..111A .
  6. Wafaa S. Sallam . Fernando L. Mantelatto . 2010 . Population features and breeding season of the land hermit crab Coenobita scaevola (Forskäl, 1775) (Anomura, Coenobitidae) from Wadi El-Gemal, South Red Sea, Egypt . . 18 . 1 . 25–33 .
  7. Book: Colin Little . 1983 . The Colonisation of Land: Origins and Adaptations of Terrestrial Animals . . 9780521252188 . Crustaceans and the evolution of the arthropods . 63–105 . https://books.google.com/books?id=tfs8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA86.
  8. W. S. Sallam . F. L. Mantelfatto . M. H. Hanafy . 2008 . Shell utilization by the land hermit crab Coenobita scaevola (Anomura, Coenobitidae) from Wadi El-Gemal, Red Sea . . 138 . 1 . 13–19 . 2012-06-20 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120317040709/http://www.naturalsciences.be/institute/associations/rbzs_website/bjz/back/pdf/BJZ%20138%281%29/Volume%20138%281%29,%20pp.%2013-19.pdf . 2012-03-17 . dead .

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