In this post, we will compare the current housing and feeding methods with those existing in the natural habitat. The purpose of the comparison is to examine how narrow and how board the observations we are going to obtain are. The missing opportunities of learning, crab activities and interactions due to space constraint is hypothesized and disused.
A Comparison between the Current Feeding and the Natural Habitat Feeding
Cardisoma armatum is an omnivore which means it eats both meat and plants. In nature, the crab diet consists mainly of vegetables and other lives such as small insects, reptiles, amphibians and fish [1]. While in the current feeding method frozen red worms are used for feeding them. Cardisoma armatum uses its claws to collect and hold the food and direct it toward its head part for eating the food.
Compared the feeding style between the current adoption and nature, cardisoma armatum are fed with frozen red worms by the adopter team. While on the nature, cardisoma armatum uses its own method to find the food by using its sense of smell. The used technique will be not observed. Possibly, it hides then hunts its prey or only eats dead animal (carcass). These behaviors unfortunately will not be seen.
A Comparison between the Current Housing and the Natural Habitat Housing
In the current housing, the crabs are kept at a container which are half-filled with water. The container is shown in the image below.
The size of the container is very small when compared to the natural habitat. This will results in restricted motion and repeated movements unlike when the crabs are in their natural habitat. This will results in obtaining less valuable observation and little can be learned from them when they are kept in confinement. The natural habitat of the rainbow crab can be moist sandy areas, mangrove, under houses, in areas adjacent to sources of brackish or sea water or inland areas of larger islands [3]. For instance, the current container does not contain a sandy section.
Thus, the interaction of the crab for example with sands (movement on sand, usage of sand, etc) will not be known. It is reported as well, that adult crabs construct deep burrows for housing purposes. These burrows are usually a part of a large colony where burrows intersect [3]. The way that the rainbow crabs excavate their burrows and how they use their parts (claws or legs) to construct them won't be observed. Another thing, the design of the burrow won't be examined and how well the burrow design fits them won't evaluated.
The interaction and the behavior of the crab as a part of a colony won't be observed. The behavior of the crabs in their colony can be beneficial to extract information about their social structure and may be used to design processes or improving engineering management systems. All in all, despite all the drawbacks described, keeping the crabs in confinement is more feasible to monitor them.
Thus, the interaction of the crab for example with sands (movement on sand, usage of sand, etc) will not be known. It is reported as well, that adult crabs construct deep burrows for housing purposes. These burrows are usually a part of a large colony where burrows intersect [3]. The way that the rainbow crabs excavate their burrows and how they use their parts (claws or legs) to construct them won't be observed. Another thing, the design of the burrow won't be examined and how well the burrow design fits them won't evaluated.
The interaction and the behavior of the crab as a part of a colony won't be observed. The behavior of the crabs in their colony can be beneficial to extract information about their social structure and may be used to design processes or improving engineering management systems. All in all, despite all the drawbacks described, keeping the crabs in confinement is more feasible to monitor them.
References :
[1] poniedziałek. (2011). Crustaceans - Rainbow crab. Available: http://doroorod.blogspot.com/2011/05/crustaceans-rainbow-crab.html
[2] daw12345678, "My rainbow crab eating watermelon," ed: Youtube, 2010.
[3] C. L. H. DONALD B. BRIGHT, "A SYNOPSIS OF THE BURROWING LAND CRABS OF THE WORLD and LIST OF THEIR ARTHROPOD SYMBIONTS AND BURROW ASSOCIATES," CONTRIBUTIONS IN SCIENCE, pp. 1-58, FEBRUARY 8 1972.
[1] poniedziałek. (2011). Crustaceans - Rainbow crab. Available: http://doroorod.blogspot.com/2011/05/crustaceans-rainbow-crab.html
[2] daw12345678, "My rainbow crab eating watermelon," ed: Youtube, 2010.
[3] C. L. H. DONALD B. BRIGHT, "A SYNOPSIS OF THE BURROWING LAND CRABS OF THE WORLD and LIST OF THEIR ARTHROPOD SYMBIONTS AND BURROW ASSOCIATES," CONTRIBUTIONS IN SCIENCE, pp. 1-58, FEBRUARY 8 1972.