The significance of chelae in the agonistic behaviour of the white-clawed crayfish, Austropotamobius pallipes

As in other benthic decapods, crayfish have chelae that are important for intra-specific agonistic encounters. In Austropotamobius pallipes, scars and mutilations are present mostly on the chelae, these being the main targets of agonistic contacts. Because males participate in more aggressive interactions than females do and compete with other males for acquiring females in escalating contests, selection for large chelae should be stronger in males. Thus, in A. pallipes (i) chelae are longer, wider and higher in males than in females; (ii) chelar size in males increases allometrically with cephalothorax length; (iii) male specimens are more often deprived of at least one cheliped and (iv) large males have the highest frequency of scars. Males with one regenerated cheliped, when opposed to a competitor with both large chelipeds, display the same motivation to fight, but perform less chelae threat displays than normal crayfish and immediately get a lower hierarchical rank. In these contests, Resource Holding Potential (= chelar size) is highly different between the crayfish and the information of this asymmetry is correctly transferred between the two opponents.