International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol.7, No.34, 344-352
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distribution of juvenile and adult burrows of
O. ceratophthalmus
and stated that juveniles live near the water line
because they have smaller gill areas and cannot tolerate prolonged air or sunlight exposure without renewing their
respiratory water. As a result, the juveniles have to leave their burrow frequently to go to renew their respiratory
water from the sea, while the adults have bigger gill surface areas which help them to tolerate longer periods of
emersion.
Figure 4 Mean seasonal (Mean ±SD) variation in ecological attributes of
O. ceratophthalmus
at the four different study sites. (A)
Density of burrows (B) Burrow abundance and (C) Frequency of occurrence of burrows
The results showed that density, abundance and frequency of occurrence of
O. ceratophthalmus
also varied
between different seasons; being higher in the monsoon season as compared summer or winter. Similar results
were obtained by Strachan et al. (1999) who, studied the ecology of
Ocypode cursor
and suggested that July and
August is the juvenile recruitment period of
Ocypode
species. The mean values of different ecological attributes
varied significantly between different sites and seasons but more significant values were recorded for different
