UTILIZATION OF ADULT BURROWS BY JUVENILES OF THE GHOST SHRIMP, CALLIANASSA JAPONICA ORTMANN : EVIDENCE FROM RESIN CASTS OF BURROWS

Abstract

Polyester resin casts of burrows of the thalassinidean ghost shrimp, Callianassa japonica ORTMANN, were collected on an intertidal sand flat in west Kyushu, Japan. One burrow cast obtained in September 1989 and another, obtained in September 1990, had a thin "branch" originating from the stout adult burrow cast. Evidence pointed to such branches being inhabited by newly recruited individuals of C. japonica. It is believed that settling larvae and/or newly settled juveniles had entered the surface openings of the adult burrows to later branch off independently.