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A behaviour pattern in Pagurus bernhardus L. towards its symbiotic actinian Calliactis parasitica (Couch)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

D. M. Ross
D. M. Ross
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E9
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Extract

In earlier behavioural studies carried out at the Plymouth Laboratory, Pagurus bernhardus L. displayed no activity towards its symbiotic actinian, Calliactis parasitica (Couch) (Ross, 1960; Ross & Sutton, 1961 a). This was in marked contrast to other familiar pagurid/actinian associations, e.g. with Dardanus spp., in which the pagurid participates actively in the transfer of Calliactis to its shells (Brunelli, 1910; Faurot 1910; Ross & Sutton, 1961 b; Ross, 1970, 1974). In the case of P. bernhardus and C. parasitica, laboratory trials showed that contact of the anemone's tentacles with a shell, even an unoccupied shell or one of a living gastropod, releases a sequential behaviour pattern in which the anemone frees its pedal disc and somersaults to the shell. It has been argued (Ross, 1967) that this association exists solely because of the behaviour pattern by which C. parasitica climbs on shells.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 59 , Issue 3 , August 1979 , pp. 623 - 630
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1979

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