The properties of acetylcholine-activated excitatory currents on the gm1 muscle of three marine decapod crustaceans, the spiny lobsters Panulirus argus and interruptus, and the crab Cancer borealis, were examined using either noise analysis, analysis of synaptic current decays, or analysis of the voltage dependence of ionophoretically activated cholinergic conductance increases. The apparent me...

The Clyde Sea Nephrops fishery produces large amounts of invertebrate discards. Of these, as much as 89% are decapod crustaceans, including the swimming crab Liocarcinus depurator (Linnaeus, 1758), the squat lobster Munida rugosa (Fabricius, 1775) and the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus (Linnaeus, 1758). The short-term mortality of these species was assessed following trawling and periods of aer...

Decapod crustaceans occupy various aquatic habitats. In freshwater they are osmoregulators, while marine species are typically osmoconformers. Freshwater crustaceans are derived from marine ancestors. The hypothesis tested here was that osmoregulators, which can rely on salt transport by interface epithelia to prevent extracellular disturbance, would have a lower capacity of tissue water regula...

The food habits of the flathead sole (Hippoglossoides elassodon) in the eastern Bering Sea were investigated. Our analysis of 4,406 flathead sole stomachs containing food showed that the diet was composed primarily of organisms living on the bottom (epibenthic) and pelagic organisms in close association with the bottom (nektobenthic). Feeding shifted from a crustacean-based diet to an ophiuroid...

The patterns of diel activity of four large decapod species in the shallow subtidal of the Isles of Shoals, Gulf of Maine, U.S.A. were investigated. During the summer of 1999 the diel abundance and size distribution of active decapod individuals were surveyed at three depth ranges at a sheltered site on Appledore Island. Densities of active American lobsters, Homarus americanus H. Milne Edwards...

The ecological and physiological significance of body size is well recognized. However, key macroevolutionary questions regarding the dependency of body size trends on the taxonomic scale of analysis and the role of environment in controlling long-term evolution of body size are largely unknown. Here, we evaluate these issues for decapod crustaceans, a group that diversified in the Mesozoic. A ...

Evidence for sentience in animals distantly related to humans is often sought observations of behavioral and neural responses noxious stimuli that would be painful humans. Most proposed criteria “lower” such as decapod crustaceans have no necessary links the affective (“suffering”) component pain. The best evidence affect learned aversion associated with experience, conditioned preference conte...

Two digging decapod crustaceans, the sand crab species Lepidopa benedicti and the mole crab species Emerita benedicti, both live in the swash zone of fine sand beaches. They were examined for two parasites that infect decapod crustaceans in the region, an unidentified nematode previously shown to infect L. benedicti, and cestode tapeworm larvae, Polypocephalus sp., previously shown to infect sh...