Associations between two species of snapping shrimp, Alpheus inca and Alpheopsis chilensis (Decapoda: Caridea: Alpheidae)

Abstract

This study examined the association pattern of two snapping shrimp species that inhabit burrows at exposed rocky shores of the Chilean Paci¢c coast. The two species Alpheus inca and Alpheopsis chilensis were frequently found to share the same burrows. In most burrows an heterosexual pair of each species was found. A strong positive correlation between the body length of female and male conspeci¢cs cohabiting in a burrow was found both for Alpheus inca and for Alpheopsis chilensis. Similarly, a positive correlation existed between the mean body length of Alpheus inca and that of Alpheopsis chilensis occurring together in one burrow. Thus, a size-relationship between burrow cohabitants exists both in the intra-speci¢c as well as in the inter-speci¢c association of these shrimps. Most females, regardless of their reproductive stage, were accompanied by males. Within a particular burrow, females of the two species often were in the same reproductive stage, i.e. both were with embryos in a similar developmental stage, or both were without embryos. These data suggest that male and female conspeci¢cs, as well as the pairs of the two species, remain together in the same burrow for relatively long time periods. It is proposed that the intra-speci¢c communication system of snapping shrimp facilitates the development of inter-speci¢c associations, such as the one reported herein.

Refuge size, group living and symbiosis: testing the “resource economic monopolization” hypothesis with the shrimp Betaeus lilianae and description of its partnership with the crab Platyxanthus crenulatus

“…Betaeus lilianae is not socially monogamous, in contrast to that reported for some congeneric species (B. macginitae and B. hardfordi Hart, 1964;Ache and Davenport, 1972) and for several other members of the family Alpheidae (Mathews, 2003;Boltaña and Thiel, 2001;Thiel and Baeza, 2001 and references therein). Given the impossibility of shelter monopolization by male shrimp, and thus, the constrained opportunities for males to attract females to shelters and resources present on it, males are expected to attempt mating by using exploitative "pure-search" strategies (Bauer, 2004;Baeza and Thiel, 2007).…”

“…Partnerships involving shrimps, including other members from the Alpheidae, and other invertebrates, including brachyuran crabs (Alpheus lottini -Vannini, 1985;Alpheus heterochaelis -Silliman et al, 2003;Merguia oligodon -Gillikin et al, 2001), are common in tropical environments, but much less frequent at temperate latitudes (Boltaña and Thiel, 2001;Silliman et al, 2003). For most of these partnerships, little is known about the cost and benefits experienced by the symbiotic partners.…”

“…The adoption of a symbiotic lifestyle (symbiosis here defined sensu de Bary (1865) quoted by Vermeij (1983) as dissimilar organisms living together) is a remarkable adaptation among caridean shrimps. Shrimp species are described as developing partnerships with fish, crabs, thalasinid prawns as well as other species of caridean shrimps (e.g., Vannini, 1985;Silliman et al, 2003;Gillikin et al, 2001;Boltaña and Thiel, 2001). Unfortunately, little is known about the details of these partnerships.…”

Social Behaviour and Recognition in Decapod Shrimps, with Emphasis on the Caridea

“…Interestingly, even the reproductive status of the two heterospecific females within a quartet seems to be synchronized. These observations are suggestive of heterospecific communication but no details of the heterospecific behaviours and recognition between these two shrimp species are available (Boltaña and Thiel 2001).…”

“…A special case is the heterospecific association between two different species of alpheid shrimps, Alpheus inca and Alpheopsis chilensis (Boltaña and Thiel 2001). Heterosexual pairs of these two species cohabit in stable burrows in deeper layers of intertidal cobble beaches.…”