Abstract
Colonies of the Red Sea branching coral Stylophora pistillata were incubated in situ with radioactive carbon and Trapezia cymodoce crabs were introduced to the colonies, for one month each, up to 7 months after coral labelling. Zooxanthellar photosynthetic products were translocated to the crabs via host coral tissue. Based upon crab/coral tissue conversion from 53 crab samples, crabs possessed radioactive material equal to that recorded in 320–770 mm2 of coral tissue (up to 2257 mm2). This material was translocated mainly by direct ‘grazing’ on coral tissue rather than mucus collection. Ovigerous female crabs (39 specimens) accumulated significantly more labelled carbon than males, and up to 53 % of their radioactivity was concentrated in their reproductive organs. A pair of crabs dwelling in a coral colony consumed ca 130 cm2 of host tissue per month (40–45 cm length of coral branches). This system represents a compact, obligatory multilevel trophic domain which also radiates horizontally by allocation of energy derived from algal photosynthesis into planula and zooea larva production, permitting the development of long trophic chains and a complex food web.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Barry, C. K., 1965. Ecological study of the decapod crustacean commensal with the branching coral Pocillopora damicornis var. nobilis Verrill. M.Sc. thesis, University of Hawaii, Honolulu: 64 pp.
Briand, F., 1983. Environmental control of food web structure. Ecology 64: 253–263.
Castro, P., 1976. Brachyuran crabs symbiotic with scleractinian corals: a review of their biology. Micronesica 12: 99–110.
Castro, P., 1978. Movements between coral colonies in Trapezia ferruginea (Crustacea: Brachyura), an obligate symbiont of scleractinian corals. Mar. Biol. 46: 237–245.
Dumas, R., R. Galois & B. A. Thomassin, 1982. Biochemical composition of soft and hard coral mucus on a New Caledonian lagoonal reef. Proc. 4th int. Coral Reef Symp. 2: 59–67.
Glynn, P. W., 1983. Increased survivorship in corals harboring crustacean symbionts. Mar. Biol. Lett. 4: 105–111.
Glynn, P. W., 1987. Some ecological consequences of coralcrustacean guard mutualisms in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Symbiosis 4: 301–324.
Glynn, P. W., M. Perez & S. L. Gilchrist, 1985. Lipid decline in stressed corals and their crustacean symbionts. Biol. Bull. 168: 276–284.
Hiatt, R. W. & D. W. Strasburg, 1960. Ecological relationships of the fish fauna on coral reefs of the Marshall Islands. Ecol. Monogr. 30: 65–127.
Knudsen, J. W., 1967. Trapezia and Tetralia (Decapoda, Brachyura, Xanthidae) as obligate ectoparasites of pocilloporid and acroporid corals. Pacif. Sci. 21: 50–57.
Lincicome, D. R., 1971. The goodness of parasitism. A new hypothesis. In T. C. Cheng (ed.), Aspects of the Biology of Symbiosis. University Park Press, Baltimore: 139–227.
Patton, W. K., 1974. Community structure among the animals inhabiting the coral Pocillopora damicornis at Heron Island, Australia. In W. B. Vernberg (ed.), Symbiosis in the Sea. University of South Carolina Press: 219–243.
Rich, P. H., 1984. Trophic-detrital interactions: vestiges of ecosystem evolution. Am. Nat. 123: 20–29.
Rinkevich, B., 1986. Senescence and dying signals in a reef building coral. Experientia 42: 320–322.
Rinkevich, B., 1989. The contribution of photosynthetic products to coral reproduction. Mar. Biol. 101: 259–263.
Rinkevich, B. & Y. Loya, 1983. Short-term fate of photosynthetic products in a hermatypic coral. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 73: 175–184.
Shafir, A., 1984. Aspects of energy flow within the coral Stylophora pistillata and some of its associates. Ph.D. thesis, Tel-Aviv University (with English summary).
Stimson, J. S., 1984. Possible uses of lipid stored in coral tissues. Am. Zool. 24: 78A.
Wolodarsky, Z., 1979. Population dynamics of Trapezia crabs inhabiting the coral Stylophora pistillata in the northern Gulf of Eilat (Red Sea). M.Sc. thesis, Tel-Aviv University (with English summary).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rinkevich, B., Wolodarsky, Z. & Loya, Y. Coral-crab association: a compact domain of a multilevel trophic system. Hydrobiologia 216, 279–284 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00026475
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00026475