Carapace color change in Uca pugilator as a response to temperature

Abstract

Brachyurid species have various coloration patterns that fluctuate among individuals due to behavioral interactions or a changing environment. In the fiddler crab Uca pugilator, the historical notion is that color change is regulated by circadian rhythms. In this study, color patterns of U. pugilator were affected by changes in temperature; crab carapaces become light in warm temperatures and dark in colder temperatures. The response to temperature occurred within 15 min (often within 5 min of exposure to the treatment), suggesting that temperature may play a key role in color change, and it is activated not through a hormonal pathway, but rather a direct response of the chromatophores. Color change occurred differently between day and night for each sex, which implies that endogenous rhythms are not the sole mechanism for color change in U. pugilator. Both sexes became darker in the cold treatment, however there were differences between the sexes with high temperatures. Females did not show significant coloration changes, while males became significantly lighter and more speckled. Results from this study suggest sex-specific constraints in response to temperature that could be associated to morphological body mass to surface area ratios, as males have large cheliped, which may be involved in thermoregulation. Constraints could also be associated to different diel activities that each sex performs or visual cues associated with mating behaviors.