Glimpses of Ocean Life; Or, Rock-Pools and the Lessons they TeachHarper, John
Science
Glimpses of Ocean Life; Or, Rock-Pools and the Lessons they Teach
Harper, John
Animal behavior; Marine animals -- Juvenile literature
There is one singular feature in the Crustacea which it may prove
interesting to dwell a little upon. I allude to their power of living
apparently without food, or at least without any other sustenance
than is afforded by the animalculæ contained in the water in which
they dwell. One accurate observer states that he kept a Cray-fish for
a period of two years, during which time the only food the animal
received was a few worms,--not more than fifty altogether. This
statement I have often had ample means of verifying. Yet, on the other
hand, strange to say, the crab is always on the hunt after tit-bits;
and nothing seems to give him greater delight than a good morning meal,
in the shape of a newly opened Mussel, Cockle, and above all--a Pholas.
Let a youthful crustacean cast its shell, and rest assured, unless its
companions have had their appetites appeased, they will endeavour to
fall upon and devour the defenceless animal. This, to my chagrin and
annoyance, I have known to occur repeatedly. When nothing else can be
procured, not only the Lobster Crabs, but any Brachyurous Decapods
who may be at hand, will set to work, and industriously pick off and
eat the Acorn-Barnacles attached to any object within reach. These
facts show that the asceticism of the crab is not voluntary, and that
when opportunity occurs, he is as fond of a good dinner as are animals
possessed of a higher degree of organization.
It will be gratifying if other observers are able to verify the
circumstance which I shall allude to hereafter, and which would seem
to show that the _exuviation_ of crustacea is expedited by affording
specimens an unlimited supply of food.
'The organs for pursuing, seizing, tearing, and comminuting the food of
the Brachyurous Decapods,' says Professor Bell, 'are carried to a high
degree of development; ... these appendages consist of six pairs, of
which some are actual organs of mastication, as the mandibles or the
true jaws, the foot jaws or pedipalps, generally serving to keep the
food in contact with the former, whilst it is being broken up by them.
'The buccal orifice in the Brachyura occupies the interior face of
the cephalic division of the body, and is bounded anteriorly by a
crustaceous lamina of determinate form, which has been termed the upper
lip, and posteriorly by another, termed the lower lip. The mandibles
occupy the sides of the opening. After these, and external to them,
are the first, and then the second pair of true jaws, followed by the
three pairs of pedipalps or foot jaws, the last of which, when at rest,
close the mouth, and include the whole of the preceding ones. In the
Macroura the pedipalps are very different in their forms, and have the
aspect of very simple feet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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