Visual communication in fiddler crabs: the influence of colors in the socio-sexual context
Visual signalling; mate choice, body coloration, interspecific recognition.
The process of animal communication influences how individuals find food, perceive predators, recognize their conspecifics, and select reproductive partners. Fidler crabs are strongly influenced by intra and intersexual selection; they can communicate visually by having their chela, size, ornament building and body coloration. Studies regarding body coloration, however, are restricted only to one species, endemic to Australia. Considering the richness in spices fiddler crabs have all around the planet, the need for more studies, especially in phylogenetically different groups, is evident. In this work we reviewed how visual communication in fiddler crabs, and their different signals, can influence socio-sexual decisions in female and male crabs. We tested how body coloration of a fiddler crab species from the America (Leptuca leptodactyla) affects recognition of conspecifics and mate selection. For this, we studied female preference by presenting females with males with painted chela and/or carapace, so they would reflect hetero-specific or conspecific males. We verified that claw coloration is important for mate selection, and carapace colour is fundamental for inter-specific recognition. This is the first study evidencing that the coloration of the carapace in make fiddler crabs serve as a parameter for interspecific recognition in fiddler crabs.