Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Gilchrist, Sandra

Keywords

Sustainable Aquaculture, Menippe mercenaria, Menippe adina

Area of Concentration

Biology

Abstract

Numerous fisheries around the world suffer from overfishing, and finding more sustainable fishing techniques has become a major focus of marine researchers. In the United States, most fisheries require that the entire organism be harvested, however, the stone crab fishery takes advantage of the natural ability of the crabs to autotomize and regenerate their limbs by only removing the claws (chelipeds) of the crab, thus returning the live crab back into the fishery. The bulk of the fishery is located in Florida, where two species and their hybrids are harvested and marketed as stone crabs, Menippe mercenaria and M. adina. Since the main prey of the stone crab consists of hard shelled mollusks, which are typically crushed by the crabs’ strong claws, the removal of one or both claws by the fishery should have a negative impact on the ability of the crab to access its chosen food source. To test the crabs’ choices in food after one or both claws were removed, a crab was given four items that simulated choices found in the wild. Crabs preferred gastropod prey before claw removal, and did not make the same choice after the claw was removed. This was expected, because of the crabs’ inability to properly manipulate the prey without both chelipeds.

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