The Biological Bulletin, Vol 196, Issue 3 295-302, Copyright © 1999 by Marine Biological Laboratory

ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION

Organization of Chemically Activated Food Search Behavior in Procambarus clarkii Girard and Orconectes rusticus Girard Crayfishes

C. Steele, C. Skinner, C. Steele, P. Alberstadt and C. Mathewson
Department of Biology and Health Services, Edinboro University, Edinboro, Pennsylvania 16444

The feeding responses of decapod crustaceans to chemical stimuli have most often been evaluated in terms of one defining act, ignoring the organization of the behavior. To gain greater insight into foraging behavior, we considered the organization of food-search behavior in evaluating the responses of two species of crayfishes to a feeding stimulant. We also examined the effects of food deprivation on the behavioral organization and whether a behavioral dichotomy exists between food search and feeding behavior in these species. Individual crayfish of the species Procambarus clarkii and Orconectes rusticus were presented with infusions of a feeding stimulant consisting of a supernatant leachate of 100 ml water and 1 g of fish flakes. The stimulant was injected with a syringe and small-bore plastic infusion tubing into the center of a behavioral arena 25 cm square and 15 cm deep. Total injection time was 20 s. Experimental groups were presented with either the full-strength leachate (100%) or one of five dilutions: 75%, 50%, 25%, 10%, or 0% (controls) of full-strength. The feeding stimulant was presented either the day after the crayfish were fed or after one week of food deprivation. We analyzed three components of food-search behavior--detection, probing (near-field search), and locomotion (far-field, or distant, search)--recording the order of occurrence and the latency time to initiation for each behavior. When presented with the stimulus following regular feeding, both species responded to concentrations {ge}50% full-strength with probing behavior (near-field search) prior to locomotion, and to concentrations <50% full-strength with locomotion prior to, or even in the absence of, probing. Detection always occurred first. These results indicate that chemical stimuli preferentially activate distant food search in both species and that a behavioral dichotomy exists between food search and feeding behavior. One week of food deprivation had no effect on the organization of food-search behavior in P. clarkii; however, groups of unfed O. rusticus presented with 25% and 10% full-strength concentrations probed prior to locomotion, indicating a change in behavioral organization.