Sound Effect on the Maternal Care Behavior of a Crab

Maternal care in marine decapods encompasses eggs caring until larvae hatching, ensuring healthy embryonic development. The effect of different sound sources (anthropogenic and biologic) and temporal patterns (low and high rate) was studied on the maternal care of the key crab species, Neohelice granulata, through laboratory experiments. Three acoustic stimuli were emitted: two anthropogenic, an artificial white noise and motorboat passes obtained from the crabs’ natural habitat, and one biologic, signals from a crabs’ predator (fish). Behavioral variables quantified included duration of still position and maternal care behaviors. Preliminary findings showed that the high-rate anthropogenic stimuli increased the still position and diminished maternal care behaviors. The predatory stimulus did not affect the still position, although the high-rate temporal emission pattern reduced the maternal care behaviors. The fact that all stimuli affected the maternal care behaviors indicates a negative effect that potentially could affect offspring survival. This is important to consider given the ecosystem engineering function (e.g., burrowing) of the studied key crab species.