Scallop Predation by Crabs, in Relation to the Development of On-Bottom Cultivation

Summary

The feeding success of four species of crabs (Crustacea : Brachyura) which are potential predators of the scallop Pecten maximum (L) was studied under laboratory conditions. Liocarcinus depurator was the only species not to prey on scallops of 4 and 5 cm shell height, whereas Liocarcinus puber. Carcinus maenas and Cancer pagurus showed the greatest potential to prey on scallops and further experiments were carried out with this species using a wide size range of bivalve. Presented with scallops within the range 3-9 cm shell height resulted in the following trends : as prey size increased, the proportion of crabs feeding decreased, male and female crabs showed similar predatory behaviour, and marine fouling on scallop shells had no significant effect on crab feeding. These findings are discussed in relation to the potential for bottom culture of P. maximus. This report has been produced from a scanned original and may therefore contain some formatting and other inaccuracies. In cases where this affects the technical content, a paper copy of the original report can still be obtained from Seafish.

Publication Reference No.

SR289