Meeting Abstract
Studies on locomotion of walking and swimming of crustaceans have been conducted on adult crabs, and few have looked at the locomotion of crab larvae. There are many studies on adult walking and swimming patterns, muscle activity, and biotic factors (i.e. tidal environment: such as tidal currents and temperature). Although there are studies that looked at swimming mechanics of the crab larvae, these studies do not investigate the role of the larval swimming appendages, and do not elaborate on the swimming mechanics of the swimming appendages of the green shore crab (Carcinus maenas) larvae. The aim of this study was to examine the swimming locomotion of the crab larvae, in particular that of the green shore crab. High speed video recordings of swimming, and sinking of stage one green crab larvae were recorded to obtain swimming and sinking kinematics of the whole larva and its appendages. Moreover, we visualized the flow generated by swimming and tethered zoea using particle image velocimetry (PIV). Significant findings from this study include: swimming speed measurements that are twice as high as previously reported in green crab larvae, the first values of sinking speeds for green crab larvae, as well as a description of the maxilliped and natatory setae beating patterns during swimming.
