International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol.7, No.34, 344-352
344
Research Article Open Access
Seasonal Burrow Distribution of the Ghost Crab,
Ocypode ceratophthalmus
(Pallas, 1772), on Sandy Shores of Gujarat, India
Jigneshkumar N. Trivedi, Kauresh D. Vachhrajani
Marine Biodiversity and Ecology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat,
India
Corresponding author email
International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol.7, No.34 doi
Received: 26 Jul., 2017
Accepted: 18 Aug., 2017
Published: 08 Sep., 2017
Copyright © 2017
Trivedi and Vachhrajani, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Trivedi J.N., and Vachhrajani K.D., 2017, Seasonal burrow distribution of the ghost crab,
Ocypode ceratophthalmus
(Pallas, 1772), on sandy shores of Gujarat,
India, International Journal of Marine Science, 7(34): 344-352 (doi
Abstract
Seasonal variation in burrow distribution pattern of
Ocypode ceratophthalmus
(Pallas, 1772) was studied at four different
sandy shores along the Saurashtra coast, Gujarat state, India. Burrow numbers were quantified in terms of three different ecological
attributes like density, abundance and frequency of occurrence monthly for one year. Three different abiotic factors like sediment
temperature, salinity and pH were measured for three seasons at each site. Burrow density, abundance and frequency of occurrence
were varied significantly between different seasons and study sites. The sediment pH showed more impact on the burrow abundance
as compared to other abiotic parameters. A strong positive correlation was observed between burrow opening diameter and crab
carapace width, and burrow diameter and abundance also increased and decreased respectively from the lower to upper shore
indicating that these attributes were highly dependent on crab body size. The highest burrow abundance was recorded in the monsoon
season as compared to other seasons which is peak juvenile recruitment season of the species. The species is large in size and occurs
in high abundance on sandy shores and the burrow distribution of the species is highly dependent on the seasons.
Keywords
Ghost crab; Seasonal variation; Abiotic factors; Saurashtra coast
Introduction
Burrowing is a common behavior exhibited by invertebrates living in soft marine sediments. The burrowing
activity of these animal increases the complexity of the habitat because animal constructs different kind of
biogenic structures and adopt different behavior patterns for their maintenance (Jones and Jago, 1993; Hannides et
al., 2005). The distribution of the burrows and their morphological features can affect the physical and
biochemical properties of the sediment (Mermillod-Blondin et al., 2004; Kristensen, 2008; Katrak et al., 2008).
Burrow patterns and morphology are mostly species specific; however, species can modify their burrowing
activity and burrow morphology in different sediment types and according to changes in environmental conditions
(Bertness and Miller, 1984; Takeda and Kurihara, 1987; Morrisey et al., 1999; Lim and Diong, 2003; Chan et al.,
2006). Burrow morphology and density of
Ocypode
crabs have, for example, been shown to vary with distance
from the water line, more complex structure of burrows with low density of crabs were observed on the upper part
while simple burrow structure with high density of crabs were observed on the lower part of sandy shore
(Strachan et al., 1999; Chan et al., 2006).
Ocypode ceratophthalmus
(Pallas, 1772) is a large crab species (carapace size > 8 mm) and occurs in high
abundance on sandy shores and is widely distributed on sandy shores of Indo Pacific region (Ng et al., 2008)
where it plays an important role in the ecology of these shores (Valero-Pacheco et al., 2007). The burrows of
O.
ceratophthalmus
play a significant role in providing shelter from desiccation and predators, as well as a safe space
for molting and reproduction. The adults of
O. ceratopthalmus
are nocturnal and stay inside the burrows during
the day time, while the juveniles may leave their burrow and move to the water line to renew their respiratory
water during day time (Morton and Morton, 1983). The burrows of this species have circular or „hole‟ type
openings and therefore counting the number of such burrow entrances is an effective tool to measure the
population of
Ocypode
species on sandy shores (Moss and McPhee, 2006). As
Ocypode
crabs are form the highest
