THE EFFECT OF PARTICLE-SIZE ON THE BURYING ABILITY OF THE BROWN SHRIMP CRANGON-CRANGON

The burial mechanism of Crangon crangon was examined in detail using high-speed video-recording equipment. Four stages of burial were identified which were associated with three modes of burial. As the mode of burial changed, a change in the angle of substratum penetration was also noted. The effect of particle size on the burying ability of three discrete size classes of shrimp was examined using both artificially graded and naturally occurring sediments. Particle size was found to be a major influencing factor on the degree of burial achieved by C. crangon, but no significant effect of shrimp size on burying ability was found over the size range tested.