BEHAVIORAL AVOIDANCE OF PREDATION IN AN INTERTIDAL HERMIT-CRAB

Several factors potentially influencing predation rates on the hermit crab Pagurus longicarpus (Say) were investigated near northeastern Gulf of Mexico salt marshes. Relative predation rates for hermit crabs in different shell types were measured at four tidal levels at four sites using tethering techniques. Predation differed between sites, but not between tidal levels at most sites. Shell species, shell size, and shell damage also had no influence on predation rates. Limited trammel netting indicated that several species of hermit crab predators were common across the intertidal zone. In the laboratory, hermit crabs that were allowed to bury fell prey to striped burrfish Chilomycterus schoepfii (Walbaum) significantly less frequently than hermit crabs that could not. P. longicarpus may depend more on behavioral adaptations such as burying, rather than qualities of the shell shelter, to evade the array of predators in this habitat.