Maximum force production: why are crabs so strong?

ABSTRACT: Durophagous crabs successfully hunt hard-shelled prey by subjecting them to extremely strong biting forces using their claws. Here I show that, for a given body mass, six species of Cancer crabs (Cancer antennarius, Cancer branneri, Cancer gracilis, Cancer magister, Cancer oregonensis and Cancer productus) were able to exert mean maximum biting forces greater than the forces exerted in any other activity by most other animals. These strong biting forces were in part a result of the high stresses (740-1350 kN m(-2)) generated by the claw closer muscle. Furthermore, the maximum muscle stress increased with increasing mean resting sarcomere length (10-18 microm) for the closer muscle of the claws of these six Cancer species. A more extensive analysis incorporating published data on muscle str

SUBMITTER: Taylor GM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1690686 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature