Behavior of the Intertidal Gastropod Planaxis sulcatus (Cerithiacea: Planaxidae) in Fiji: Are Responses to Damaged Conspecifics and Predators More Pronounced on Tropical Versus Temperate Shores
Behavior of the Intertidal Gastropod Planaxis sulcatus (Cerithiacea: Planaxidae) in Fiji: Are Responses to Damaged Conspecifics and Predators More Pronounced on Tropical Versus Temperate Shores
Date
1993-10
Authors
McKillup, Stephen C.
McKillup, Ruth V.
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University of Hawaii Press
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Abstract
The intertidal herbivorous snail Planaxis sulcatus (Born) showed
different avoidance behavior in response to crushed conspecifics than that to
whole or crushed Morula anaxeres (Kiener). Addition of a crushed conspecific
to pools containing P. sulcatus caused most individuals to move until they had
reached crevices, but addition of the predatory gastropod M. anaxeres caused
most P. sulcatus to move upward until they were no longer submerged. Planaxis
sulcatus that had moved to crevices in response to crushed conspecifics climbed
upward until no longer submerged after M. anaxeres was added to pools. It is
suggested that crushed conspecifics are a cue for shell-crushing predators, which
may be escaped by moving to crevices. However, such behavior provides little
or no protection against a drilling gastropod compared with climbing upward
until no longer submerged. The rapid and almost unanimous avoidance response
of P. sulcatus was contrasted with the less uniform and relatively slower
responses of two temperate species, Littorina unifasciata Philippi and Littorina
cincta Quoy & Gaimard, to their local predators. It is suggested that differences
in avoidance behavior may indicate increased predation pressure at lower
latitudes.
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McKillup SC, McKillup RV. 1993. Behavior of the intertidal gastropod Planaxis sulcatus (Cerithiacea: Planaxidae) in Fiji: Are responses to damaged conspecifics and predators more pronounced on tropical versus temperate shores? Pac Sci 47(4): 401-407.
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