Estimating the energetic cost of fighting in shore crabs by noninvasive monitoring of heartbeat rate

Abstract

After establishing shore crabs, Carcinus maenas, individually in separate aquaria, we used a noninvasive infrared phototransducer to monitor their heartbeat rate continously before, during and after fights with intruder crabs. We confirmed that heartbeat rate is a reliable indicator of oxygen consumption and then used it to estimate indirectly the energetic cost of fights differing in duration and intensity, and its dependence on prior residence and relative size of opponent. Prior residence in aquaria significantly increased the probability that crabs would initiate fights against intruders. The majority of fights were resolved by aggressive contacts, display being used extensively only against smaller intruders. Fights between evenly sized opponents and between residents and larger intruders involved almost continuous aggression, whereas fights with smaller intruders involved several shorter bouts of aggression. Fight duration was weakly correlated with the relative size of opponents. Heartbeat rate, measured only in residents, was elevated above resting levels throughout fights, hence energy expenditure during fighting increased linearly with fight duration. Contrary to expectation, heartbeat rate was not significantly influenced by relative size of the opponent or by the intensity of aggression. After fighting, heartbeat rate usually returned to resting levels within 30–60min, recovery taking longer in fights against larger intruders, when the fight was always lost. We propose that prolonged elevation of heartbeat rate in residents that had lost to larger intruders represented a state of alertness, adaptive against impending risks of resource loss or injury.