Predicting diet in brachyuran crabs using external morphology.

ABSTRACT: Morphological traits have often been used to predict diet and trophic position of species across many animal groups. Variation in gut size of closely related animals is known to be a good predictor of dietary habits. Species that are more herbivorous or that persist on low-quality diets often have larger stomachs than their carnivorous counterparts. This same pattern exists in crabs and in most species, individuals exhibit external markings on the dorsal side of their carapace that appear to align with the position and size of their gut. We hypothesized that these external markings could be used as an accurate estimate of the crab's cardiac stomach size, allowing an approximation of crab dietary strategies without the need to sacrifice and dissect individual animals. We used literature val

SUBMITTER: Quezada-Villa K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10100828 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature