Reproductive behavior of three tube-building peracarid crustaceans: the amphipods Jassa falcata and Ampithoe valida and the tanaid Tanais cavolinii

Abstract

Laboratory observations indicate that Jassa falcata, Ampithoe valida, and Tanais cavolinii have quite similar patterns of behavior: males attend females until ovulation and copulation occur, then the male and female separate. Females tend to remain inside their own tubes, and males tend to move between the tubes of receptive females. This pattern of behavior (called “cruising males”) may be common in crustaceans that exhibit some fidelity to a specific site, especially if the females produce several broods in succession, do not store sperm, and reproduce asynchronously relative to each other. Male J. falcata have a terminal molt which is marked by the presence of a specific sexually dimorphic characteristic, the “thumb” on the second gnathopod. Alternating ovulatory and anovulatory molts occur in T. cavolinii.