Several items from the natural habitat of adult Panopeus herbstii were examined to determine if they had the ability to produce a metamorphic cue. These included adult conspecifics, natural rock/shell substratum, the co-occurring species Hemigrapsus sanguineus and bacterial biofilms. Adult conspecifics, H. sangineus and natural rock/shell all accelerated metamorphosis. However, adult conspecifics accelerated metamorphosis to the greatest extent. The cue associated with adult conspecifics was found to be water-soluble, stable following boiling and freezing, and of relatively small molecular size (<1 kDa). Furthermore, the cue appears to be produced from the conspecifics themselves, rather than from biofilms colonizing the surfaces of the crabs. The results of this experiment suggest that postlarvae of P. herbstii are able to distinguish suitable habitat through chemical signals, thus greatly increasing their chances for survival.

中文翻译：

---

普通泥蟹变质诱导物的分离与表征

检查了成虫草本植物自然栖息地的几件物品，以确定它们是否具有产生变形线索的能力。这些包括成虫同种、天然岩石/贝壳基质、共生种 Hemigrapsus sanguineus 和细菌生物膜。成年同种、H. sangineus 和天然岩石/贝壳都加速了变态。然而，成年同种动物在最大程度上加速了变态。发现与成年同种相关的线索是水溶性的，在煮沸和冷冻后稳定，并且分子大小相对较小（<1 kDa）。此外，线索似乎是由同种动物本身产生的，而不是来自寄居在螃蟹表面的生物膜。该实验的结果表明 P.