日本の海産移入生物―沿岸生態系への新たなる脅威 東京湾における移入種イッカククモガニとチチュウカイミドリガニの生活史と有機汚濁による季節的貧酸素環境での適応性

Abstract

Two introduced crab species, Pyromaia tuberculata and Carcinus aestuarii, occur abundantly in organically polluted waters in Japan. Population studies of these crabs have been conducted in Tokyo Bay, in which summer hypoxia causes destruction of the benthic animal populations on the bottom of the innerhalf of the bay. In fall, a population of P. tuberculata quickly recolonizes that bottom, which has recovered from the hypoxia, by settlement of larvae. Settled crabs reach maturity by the next spring, then release larvae until the subsequent summer hypoxia. Released larvae disperse to the outerhalf of the bay, resulting in recruitment of juveniles into the local population. These recruits reach maturity before the fall under the normoxic conditions prevailing there, then release larvae for recolonization of the innerhalf of the bay. Carcinus aestuarii grows along the shores of river-mouths and in a lagoon of the inner bay, but migrates out onto the bay bottom during fall to spring, when it releases larvae. Released larvae settle along the shores during the spring. Settled crabs grow on the shores with adult crabs that had returned from the bay bottom. Thus the crabs on the shores avoid encountering the bottom hypoxia. These results suggest that the main factor that has allowed the establishment of the new introduced populations in Tokyo Bay is complementarity between the life cycle of these crabs, including adult migration or larval dispersal, and the seasonal availability of a habitat that is recovering from hypoxia.