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Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / 1 in 5 crabs ... question need help!
« on: 25/08/2009 22:05:01 »
Hello all,
I am a regular listener to the Naked Scientist podcast but must confess I don't post on here often. I work in TV and am currently working on a nature documentary and my director has put this fact in the script that I need to fact check and I am almost certain it is wrong!
Crabs are a particularly fascinating seashore dweller. 1 in 5 of them live in shells they’ve taken over from mussels.
Any help from any experts would be much appreciated. I have emailed a Crustacean biology dept but it being the Summer I haven't had any responce as yet. This is my take on it;
I cannot find any specific information to confirm or refute this comment but it is almost certainly not true. Most crabs grow their own shells as soft tissue underneath their existing shells which they then moult once they have out grown them. They then hide while their new soft shell now exposed to the elements, hardens. It is mainly hermit crabs that take over shells from other creatures and even then it is most likely empty mollusc shells not mussels. Mollusc’s account for a huge amount of species so this fact maybe true of mollusc shells; specifically from the gastropoda class of molluscs.
I am a regular listener to the Naked Scientist podcast but must confess I don't post on here often. I work in TV and am currently working on a nature documentary and my director has put this fact in the script that I need to fact check and I am almost certain it is wrong!
Crabs are a particularly fascinating seashore dweller. 1 in 5 of them live in shells they’ve taken over from mussels.
Any help from any experts would be much appreciated. I have emailed a Crustacean biology dept but it being the Summer I haven't had any responce as yet. This is my take on it;
I cannot find any specific information to confirm or refute this comment but it is almost certainly not true. Most crabs grow their own shells as soft tissue underneath their existing shells which they then moult once they have out grown them. They then hide while their new soft shell now exposed to the elements, hardens. It is mainly hermit crabs that take over shells from other creatures and even then it is most likely empty mollusc shells not mussels. Mollusc’s account for a huge amount of species so this fact maybe true of mollusc shells; specifically from the gastropoda class of molluscs.