International Journal of Marine Science, 2016, Vol.6, No.11, 1-10
9
stated that Y shaped burrows are utilized by females while, males utilize spiral shape burrows but such kind of
pattern of shape partition of burrows between male and females was not observed in the present study as well as in
the other studies on burrows of
O. ceratophthalmus
(Chakrabarti, 1981; Chan et al., 2006).
The individuals of
O. ceratophthalmus
population living on the sandy shores of Saurashtra coast, Gujarat have
created different shapes of burrows which are highly influenced by their body size and different life stages. The
burrows serve different functions in the life of an individual and further studies should be carried out to
investigate the effect of different seasons and sediment type on the burrow morphology of the species.
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the Ministry of Earth Science, Govt. of India for financial support under the head of
project entitled “Studies on Brachyuran Crabs of Saurashtra Coast” (Grant No. MoES/16/06/2013-RDEAS dated
11.11.2014). The authors are also thankful to Mr. Gunjan M. Soni, Ms. Dhruva Trivedi, Ms. Barkha Purohit, Mr.
Vishal Pankhania and Mr. Kalpesh Gohel for technical assistance.
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