Aerobic response to exercise of the fastest land crab.

To view the aerobic response to exercise, the ghost crab Ocypode guadichaudii was run in a treadmill respirometer at three velocities (0.13, 0.19, and 0.28 km/h) while oxygen consumption (VO2) was monitored. A steady-state VO2 that increased linearly with velocity was attained. VO2 transient periods at the beginning and end of exercise were extremely rapid with half times from 50 to 150 s. The magnitude of oxygen deficit and debt were small and both showed increases with an increase in velocity. Oxygen debt was measured at each velocity after 4-, 10-, and 20-min exercise bouts. No change in the magnitude of oxygen debt was observed with respect to exercise duration. Maximal VO2 was 11.9 times the average resting VO2. Oxygen uptake kinetics have shown only very sluggish and reduced rates in five other more sedentary crab species previously tested. The aerobic response pattern observed in the present study is more comparable to that of exercising mammals and highly aerobic ectothermic vertebrates. This suggests that the ghost crab meets the energy demand of sustained exercise by aerobic ATP production in contrast to many other crab species.