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Underwater television observations on the intertidal movements of shore crabs, Carcinus maenas, across a mudflat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

P. J. Dare  and
D. B. Edwards
P. J. Dare
Affiliation:
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Fisheries Experiment Station, Conwy, Gwynedd
D. B. Edwards
Affiliation:
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Fisheries Experiment Station, Conwy, Gwynedd
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Extract

Closed circuit underwater television observations showed that, in summer, large numbers of Carcinus maenas performed daytime tidal migrations up and down a small mudflat in the Menai Strait, North Wales. At the observation point, 25 m above mean low water mark of spring tides, numbers of crabs moving upshore on flood tides averaged 84 m—1 of tideline, ranging from 48 to 126 m—1. Most crabs were of 20–50 mm carapace width (1 and 11 groups); none smaller than 15 mm was seen. Peak movements occurred in at least 0.5 m depth of water. Over the high tide period, most crabs were dispersed over the upper half of the mudflat where crab population densities of 1·8–2·5 m—2 were indicated by diving observations.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 61 , Issue 1 , February 1981 , pp. 107 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1981

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