Organism
Shore Crab
TL;DR
The shore crab demonstrates diet selection optimization through its mussel-eating behavior.
The shore crab demonstrates diet selection optimization through its mussel-eating behavior. Facing three mussel sizes (large: 20 cal/60 sec handling; medium: 12 cal/30 sec; small: 5 cal/20 sec), the crab calculates energy return per time invested. When large mussels are abundant, optimal strategy is eating large and medium while ignoring small (not worth handling time). When large mussels are rare, optimal strategy shifts to medium only. The crab doesn't change preferences - it changes strategy based on abundance, demonstrating context-dependent optimization.
Notable Traits of Shore Crab
- Size-selective predation on mussels
- Context-dependent diet switching
- Energy-per-time optimization