Laboratory investigations of the effects of predator sex and size on prey selection by the Asian crab, Hemigrapsus sanguineus

Laboratory studies have shown that the nonindigenous Asian shore crab, Hemigrapsus sanguineus, readily consumes three species of commercial bivalves: blue mussels, Mytilus edulis, soft-shell clams, Mya arenaria, and oysters, Crassostrea virginica. Although crabs: can eat bivalves of a wide size range, they preferred the smaller prey (less than or equal to 10 mm SL). Prey critical size limits exist for M. edulis and C. virginica, but not M. arenaria, possibly because of differences in shell characteristics among the three species. Crabs preferred M. arenaria over both M. edulis and C. virginica, and M. edulis was strongly preferred over C. virginica in pairwise comparison tests. Experiments to determine feeding rates on mussels showed that H. sanguineus can consume large numbers of mussels daily (12.7 +/- 11.6 mussels day(-1); sexes pooled: N = 59). Mussel consumption rates increased with size of the predator and male crabs consumed more mussels than did similarly sized female crabs. The high densities of Hemigrapsus that occur in the wild, their effectiveness as predators of juvenile bivalves and their large appetites suggest an important role for these predators in restructuring the: prey communities in habitats into which they have been introduced. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.