Ghost crabs on a treadmill: Oxygen Uptake and Haemocyanin Oxygen Affinity

Abstract

Investigators studied locomotion on a diversity of crab species from different angles (Herreid & Full 1988). However, when it was discovered that crabs walk and run well on treadmills (Herreid 1981; Wheatly, McMahon, Burggren & Pinder 1985) it immediately opened the way to study the. metabolism of crabs in motion. A discipline that benefited handsomely from treadmill studies, was respiration. Respiratory responses, particularly from amphibious or land crabs, to moderate or severe exercise, will allow the experimenter to identify the strong as well as the weak points of the crab's respiratory make up. These points will be much more evident when the metabolic processes are substantially increased through exercise in comparison with the resting state. This approach may be applicable to crabs exercising both in water or air as respiratory medium.