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Gall Polymorphism Of Coral-Inhabiting Crabs (Decapoda, Cryptochiridae): A New Perspective, Tsui-Ping Wei, Hon-Cheng Chen, Ying-Chou Lee, Min-Li Tsai, Jiang-Shiou Hwang, Shao-Hung Peng, Yuh-Wen Chiu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

Coral-inhabiting gall crabs are either obligate symbionts or parasitic associates with their host corals. They form a variety of galls/pits inside the skeleton of living corals. Nine genera of gall crabs on several scleractinian corals were used to test the hypothesis that galls vary among cryptochirid genera. Phylogenetic and morphometric observations were combined to analyze the possible evolutionary significance of gall construction. A high degree of conservation of gall shapes was observed in relation to the gall crabs’ phylogeny. Gall/pit morphology and fidelity was studied in each of the different species of gall crabs. In addition, the correlation analysis results …