Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

First record of the predation upon sea slugs (Cephalaspidea and Nudibranchia) by the peculiar elbow crab Lambrachaeus ramifer Alcock, 1895 (Decapoda: Parthenopidae)

  • Short Communication
  • Published:
Marine Biodiversity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The unusual parthenopid crab, Lambrachaeus ramifer Alcock, 1895, was observed feeding on the aposematically coloured sea slugs, the gastropterid cephalaspidean Sagaminopteron nigropunctatum Carlson & Hof and the chromodoridid nudibranch Mexichromis mariei (Crosse), representing the first known cases of in situ predation upon sea slugs by a brachyuran crab.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

References

  • Aguado F, Marin A (2007) Warning coloration associated with nematocyst-based defences in aeolidiodean nudibranchs. J Molluscan Stud 73:23–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alcock A (1895) Materials for a carcinological fauna of India, 1. The Brachyura Oxyrhyncha. J Asiatic Soc Bengal 64:157–291 pls. 3-5

    Google Scholar 

  • Arango CP, Brodie GD (2003) Observations of predation on the tropical nudibranch Okenia sp. by the sea spider Anoplodactylus longiceps Williams (Arthropoda: Pycnogonida). Veliger 46:99–101

  • Becerro MA, Starmer JA, Paul VJ (2006) Chemical defenses of cryptic and aposematic gastropterid molluscs feeding on their host sponge Dysidea granulosa. J Chem Ecol 32:1491–1500

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carté B, Faulkner DJ (1986) Role of secondary metabolites in feeding associations between a predatory nudibranch, 2 grazing nudibranchs, and a bryozoan. Chem Ecol 12:795–804

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheney KL, Cortesi F, How MJ, Wilson NG, Blomberg SP, Winters AE, Umanzör S, Marshall NJ (2014) Conspicuous visual signals do not coevolve with increased body size in marine sea slugs. J Evol Biol 27:676–687

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cimino G, Ghiselin MT (2009) Chemical defense and the evolution of opisthobranch gastropods. Proc Calif Acad Sci 60(10):175–422

    Google Scholar 

  • Dietz L, Dömel JS, Leese F, Lehmann T, Melzer RR (2018) Feeding ecology in sea spiders (Arthropoda: Pycnogonida): what do we know? Front Zool 15(7):1–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Edmondson CH (1952) Additional central Pacific crustaceans. Occ Pap Bernice P. Bishop Mus 21:67–86

    Google Scholar 

  • Faulkner DJ, Ghiselin MT (1983) Chemical defense and the evolutionary ecology of dorid nudibranchs and some other opisthobranch gastropods. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 13:295–301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodheart JA, Bely AE (2017) Sequestration of nematocysts by divergent cnidarian predators: mechanism, function, and evolution. Invertebr Biol 136(1):75–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gosliner TM, Valdés Á, Behrens DW (2018) Nudibranch & sea slug identification. Indo-Pacific, 2nd edn. New World Publications, Inc., Jacksonville 451 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood PG (2009) Acquisition and use of nematocysts by cnidarian predators. Toxicon 54:1065–1070

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Griffin DJG, Tranter HA (1974) Spider crabs of the family Majidae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) from the Red Sea. Israel J Zool 23:162–198 pl. 1

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffin DJG, Tranter HA (1986) The Decapoda Brachyura of the Siboga expedition. Part VIII. Majidae. Siboga Exp Mon 39(C4):1–335 pls. 1-22

    Google Scholar 

  • Haber M, Cerfeda S, Carbone M, Calado G, Gaspar H, Neves R, Maharajan V, Cimino G, Gavagnin M, Ghiselin MT, Mollo E (2010) Coloration and defense in the nudibranch gastropod Hypselodoris fontandraui. Biol Bull 218:181–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kensley BF (1977) Lambrachaeus ramifer Alcock, a rare spider crab from the east coast of southern Africa (Decapoda, Brachyura, Majidae). Zool Afr 12(2):323–327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee S, Ang D (2018) A Singapore record of the sea-slug, Sagaminopteron nigropunctatum. Singap Biodivers Rec 2018:129

    Google Scholar 

  • Mehrotra R, Monchanin C, Scott CM, Phongsuwan N, Caballer Gutierrez MC, Chavanich S, Hoeksema BW (2019) Selective consumption of sacoglossan sea slugs (Mollusca: Gastropoda) by scleractinian corals (Cnidaria: Anthozoa). PLoS ONE 14(4):e0215063 1–22

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Minemizu R (2000) Marine decapod and stomatopod crustaceans mainly from Japan. Bun-Itsu Sougou Shuppan Ltd., Tokyo 344 pp. [In Japanese]

    Google Scholar 

  • Mollo E, Gavagnin M, Carbone M, Guo YW, Cimino G (2005) Chemical studies on Indopacific Ceratosoma nudibranchs illuminate the protective role of their dorsal horn. Chemoecology 15:31–36

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ng PKL, McLay C (2003) On the systematic position of Lambrachaeus Alcock, 1895 (Brachyura, Parthenopidae). Crustaceana 76(8):897–915

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paine RT (1965) Natural history, limiting factors and energetics of the opisthobranch Navanax inermis. Ecology 46(5):603–619

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pawlik JR, Kernan MR, Molinski TF, Harper MK, Faulkner DJ (1988) Defense chemicals of the Spanish dancer nudibranch Hexabranchus sanguineus and its egg ribbons: macrolides derived from a sponge diet. Exp Mar Biol Ecol 119:99–109

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ryanskiy A, Ivanov Y (2019) Nudibranchs of the coral triangle. A. Rianskiy, Moscow 148 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Trowbridge CD (1994) Defensive responses and palatability of specialist herbivores: predation on N.E. Pacific ascoglossan gastropods. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 105:61–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tullrot A (1994) The evolution of unpalatability and warning coloration in soft-bodied marine invertebrates. Evolution 43:925–928

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van der Meij SET, Reijnen BT (2012) First observations of attempted nudibranch predation by sea anemones. Mar Biodivers 42:281–283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winters AE, Green NF, Wilson NG, How MJ, Garson MJ, Marshall NJ, Cheney KL (2017) Stabilizing selection on individual pattern elements of aposematic signals. Proc R Soc B 284:20170926 1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winters AE, Wilson NG, van den Berg CP, How MJ, Endler JA, Marshall NJ, White AM, Garson MJ, Cheney KL (2018) Toxicity and taste: unequal chemical defences in a mimicry ring. Proc R Soc B 285:20180457 1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Miss Ni Komang Suci for taking a short video used in Supplementary Material (Video SM-1). The Madang specimen of Lambrachaeus ramifer was collected during the “Our Planet Reviewed” Papua Niugini Expedition in November–December 2012, organised by the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), Pro Natura International, the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), and the University of Papua New Guinea [PIs: Drs. Philippe Bouchet, Sarah Samadi (MNHN) and Claude Payri (IRD)], with funding provided by the Total Foundation, Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, Fondation EDF, Stavros Niarchos Foundation and Entrepose Contracting, and with a collecting permit delivered by the Papua New Guinea Department of Environment and Conservation. Dr. Peter K.L. Ng (National University of Singapore) confirmed the identification of the Madang specimen of L. ramifer, on the basis of detailed colour photographs. Dr. Ángel Valdés (California State Polytechnic University) examined the colour plates (Figs. 2, 3) and confirmed our identifications of the sea slugs.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas / ICB-5, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Avenida Esperança s/n, Goiânia, GO, 74690-900, Brazil

    Arthur Anker

  2. Matahari Tulamben Resort Dive & Spa, Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia

    Yury Ivanov

Authors
  1. Arthur Anker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yury Ivanov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arthur Anker.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The present article does not involve collecting and preservation of animals. A single specimen used for comparative purposes was collected in 2012, respecting all national and international regulations (see Acknowledgements above).

Data availability

The authors did not use publicly archived datasets for this study. The present study is essentially a synthesis of the second author’s in situ observations and a literature survey. A short video supporting the above observations is available on the journal’s repository as Supplementary Material.

Author contribution statement

The present study is largely based on in situ observations by YI, followed by an exhaustive literature review by AA. AA conceived and wrote the manuscript, which was read and approved by YI.

Additional information

Communicated by E. Macpherson

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Anker, A., Ivanov, Y. First record of the predation upon sea slugs (Cephalaspidea and Nudibranchia) by the peculiar elbow crab Lambrachaeus ramifer Alcock, 1895 (Decapoda: Parthenopidae). Mar. Biodivers. 50, 24 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-020-01047-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-020-01047-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation