Abstract
The giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, is a large shrimp extensively used in aquaculture whose grooming behaviors were analyzed in this study. Macrobrachium rosenbergii exhibits three unique male morphotypes that differ in their behavior, morphology and physiology: small-clawed males (SM), orange-clawed males (OC) and blue-clawed males (BC). The largest and most dominant males, BC males, are predicted to have significantly different grooming behaviors compared to females and the other two male morphotypes. These BC males may be too large and bulky to efficiently groom and may dedicate more time to mating and agonistic interactions than grooming behaviors. Observations were conducted to look at the prevalence of grooming behaviors in the absence and presence of conspecifics and to determine if any differences in grooming behavior exist among the sexes and male morphotypes. Significant differences in the grooming behaviors of all individuals (females and male morphotypes) were found. BC males tended to have the highest grooming time budget (percent of time spent grooming) while SM males had a relatively low grooming time budget. The grooming behaviors of the male morphotypes differed, indicating while these males play distinct, separate roles in the social hierarchy, they also have different grooming priorities. The conditions in which Macrobrachium rosenbergii are cultured may result in increased body fouling, which may vary, depending on the grooming efficiencies and priorities of these male morphotypes. Overall, grooming behaviors were found to be a secondary behavior which only occurred when primary behaviors such as mating, feeding or fighting were not present.
Highlights
Behavioral hierarchyA behavioral hierarchy occurs among certain behaviors which are deemed essential to an organism
Macrobrachium rosenbergii showed similar grooming behaviors compared to other caridean shrimps including the usage of specific grooming appendages (Bauer 1978, 1981, Felgenhauer and Schram 1979), priority of body parts groomed (Bauer 1977, 1979) and time budget dedicated to grooming activities (Table 2)
The amount of time caridean shrimps spend grooming suggests there must be an important benefit for the activity
Summary
Behavioral hierarchyA behavioral hierarchy occurs among certain behaviors which are deemed essential to an organism. Ranking of behaviors by individuals is necessary when an organism is in conflict situations such as foraging (Davis et al 1974), fighting a predator or conspecific (Karplus et al 1987), or mating (Liske and Davis 1986). These behaviors are normally deemed primary behaviors and are usually considered high in a behavioral hierarchy as they are evolutionarily important for reproductive fitness and survival situations. Grooming removes fouling agents and has been hypothesized, but not tested, to be a secondary behavior (Bauer 1989). Grooming would decrease when primary behaviors are more pressing (Bauer 1989, 2013)
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