A mathematical modelling for the cheliped regeneration with handedness in fiddler crab.

An enormously developed giant cheliped with the other small one characterizes the adult male fiddler crab. Some experiments with artificial severances of cheliped indicate that such a handedness in the cheliped size is maintained even after the regeneration of severed cheliped. Other experimental researches give some results about an unknown physiological system which controls the emergence and the regeneration of the handedness in the cheliped size. In this paper, with two hypothesized factors relevant to the regeneration of a severed cheliped, we propose a simple mathematical model to describe the experimental result about the cheliped regeneration with a handedness after the cheliped severance for the fiddler crab. Our model gives a suggestion about an underlying system for the cheliped regeneration in the fiddler crab or some other crustacean species.